ISLAMABAD: The accountability courts in the country have given convictions in 40 references as 896 accused had admitted their guilt and opted to return hard earned looted money of innocent people amounting to Rs 11.658 billion on account of Plea Bargain (PB) and Voluntary Return (VR).
It was further informed that NAB had recovered Rs 4.693 billion and Rs 5.676 billion in realm of VR and PB respectively in 2016. The Bureau also recovered Rs 0.628 billion as court fine imposed by Accountability Courts.
The prosecution of NAB References in respective courts has also improved during last three years and success rate stood at 72.72 % in 2016. Addressing the meeting, Chairman, National Accountability Bureau (NAB), Qamar Zaman Chaudhry said corruption was root-cause of all evils. Eradication of corruption is the top priority of NAB by adopting Zero Tolerance Policy across the board as corruption is a major hurdle in economic progress and prosperity.
He said NAB had chalked out a comprehensive Anti Corruption strategy i.e. creating Awareness against ill-effect of corruption in the society, making efforts aimed at Prevention through review of laws and procedures to ensure that the possibility of abuse of discretion is minimized and effective and efficient Enforcement through investigation of acts of corruption and vigorous Prosecution in the respective Courts of Law.Despite many odds, NAB officers continued to perform with their best abilities, he said and added due to various measures and initiatives taken by present management of NAB, the year 2014 is considered the reinvigoration year.
The introduction of reforms and its implementation through unwavering efforts brought positive results in 2015 and onwards. The phenomenon of corruption is an issue that is not limited to Pakistan.
According to World Economic Forum’s Report, every year corruption costs the world 5 % of Global Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to the tune of US$ 2.6 trillion.It is reward of this pragmatic and holistic approach that during the year 2016, NAB received 33,245 numbers of complaints. NAB authorized 914 inquiries and 389 investigations in 2016.
Shortage of Human Resource also remained a concern for NAB in preceding years.
To address the same, NAB inducted 7th batch comprising of 100 officers who joined field in February 2016.The recruitment process of another batch of 97 officers has completed and newly recruited 97 officer are being trained in Police College Sihala on modern lines.
Furthermore, several Capacity Building Courses, refresher courses and trainings were also arranged for the officers/officials to enhance their professional capabilities.
He said a web based Monitoring & Evaluation System (MES) has also been implemented for effective monitoring and internal accountability.
NAB continued collaboration within the global arena through international conferences and bilateral ties.
In this context, Pakistan signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with China in November 2016, with the purpose to streamline and structure cooperation in fields of anti-corruption.
He said that NAB also extended a proposal to set up South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation-Anti-Corruption Forum (SAARC-ACF). Accordingly NAB hosted a meeting at Islamabad in September 2016 wherein heads of SAARC Anti-Corruption Authorities agreed with proposal for creation of such forum.
