The corruption accused claiming innocence in media should apply for conducting day-to-day hearings of their cases in relevant accountability courts for expeditious decisions of their cases, National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Chairman Justice Javed Iqbal said on Sunday.
In a statement, he said those who were claiming their innocence in the media should apply for day-to-day hearings of their cases in the relevant accountability courts where the esteemed accountability courts will decide the cases in accordance with the law.
He said NAB has filed corruption references based on solid evidence against the big fish allegedly involved in money laundering in the esteemed accountability courts. Due to vigorous prosecution of NAB, 1,405 corrupt persons were convicted which was a testament to NAB’s outstanding performance for the last more than four years as compared to previous years.
The NAB would continue to carry out its national duty to bring the big fish to justice in accordance with the law without resorting to baseless propaganda against the institution. He said that NAB was committed to bringing white-collar cases of mega corruption to a logical conclusion.
NAB was the focal institution of Pakistan under the UN Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) and the chairman of the Saarc Anti-Corruption Forum. NAB was considered a role model for the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) countries for its efforts in eradicating corruption.
NAB had recovered Rs. 584 billion from corrupt elements directly and indirectly from Oct 2017 to Dec 2021 which was a record success.
It reflects the commitment of the officers to fulfill their national duty to eradicate corruption from the country.
NAB was the only organization that has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with China to oversee China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) projects being completed in Pakistan. A monitoring and evaluation system has been devised to improve the performance of the institution on regular basis. He said that youth was our future and National Accountability Bureau (NAB) in collaboration with Higher Education Commission (HEC) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to make collaborative efforts to root out corruption from the society and to make the youth aware of the negative effects of corruption in universities and colleges. Under this initiative, NAB has set up more than 50,000 character-building Societies in universities across the country. Provincial committees have been set up in consultation with the relevant federal and provincial departments to assist in the prevention of corruption and the identification of shortcomings. He said that as per Gillani and Gallup’s survey, 59 percent of people have shown trust in NAB.
He said that NAB has devised a comprehensive Quantified Grading System in order to further improve the performance of NAB Headquarter and all regional bureaus.
Under Quantified Grading System, he said the NAB Headquarters and regional bureaus are being evaluated on the annual and midterm basis at a given criterion which has proved very successful in increasing the repute and image of NAB manifold due to regular monitoring, inspection, and implementation of decisions taken by the present management of NAB.
