PESHAWAR: National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Chairman Qamar Zaman Chaudry, chaired the annual Directors General Conference at the NAB Headquarters here. The conference was attended by NAB deputy chairman, rosecutor general accountability and all regional director generals.
In his opening remarks, Qamar Zaman Chaudry said that NAB is an apex anti-corruption organization which was established to eradicate corruption from the country. Due to various reasons, NAB’s working got adversely affected during the previous years. This also affected the working of the NAB staff. He said in this backdrop of dismay, the year 2014 was the year of re-invigoration of NAB. The present management has initiated the process of putting NAB back on track. He said that after a thorough and comprehensive analysis of defects and deficiencies in the structure and operations of the organization, a reform and restructuring program was put in place which has infused a new lease of life in the organization. He said that a character marked by fairness, objectivity, professionalism and transparency is critical to achieving efficiency across different tiers of the organization.
He said that the measures taken by present management of NAB such as introduction of Combined Investigation Teams (CIT), review of Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), capacity building training and rationalization of workload has started showing results. An objective appraisal system – Partly Quantified Grading System – and the Internal Accountability Mechanism (IAM) have improved the quality of the output.
He said that the tempo and momentum generated in 2014 has been sustained into 2015 as well. The stock-taking of pending cases resulted in identification of 1133 in the pending list spread over 12 years. The field formations were encouraged to set deadline for these cases for expeditious disposal on merits. Institutional supervision and support in complex cases was provided through High Level Committee (HLC).
The Chairman appreciated the field formation on having achieved more than 92 percent disposal of these cases. It was made possible through the dedicated and tireless efforts of the entire workforce at all levels for which they deserve unqualified appreciation. He said that moving with the tide of time, NAB has developed an indigenous Monitoring and Evaluation System (MES) which will help in institutionalizing the support and supervision at different levels of management.
He said that the efforts and hard work of two years have now prepared the NAB to make bigger strides towards its ultimate objectives of becoming an efficient and dependable anti-corruption agency. With continuous development of existing workforce through trainings and an enabling, consultative work environment and the induction of 110 investigation officers, currently under training at Sihala, NAB is now more than adequately equipped to perform its functions. With the revision of TCS and MAQs, there are better career prospects for the officers. There are no complaints about any shortage of finances or deficiencies in terms of physical infra-structure and logistic support. He said that the hard work of NAB officer’s for the last two years would go waste if we don’t use it as a strong foundation to build on the values of fairness, objectivity, professionalism and transparency. This is the new NAB.
DG NAB Headquarters gave a detailed briefing on the newly established Monitoring and Evaluation System (MES) catering the needs of all concerned having salient features of maintenance of data at each stage including complaint entry, complaint verification, inquiry, investigation, prosecution stage and record preservation of Regional Board Meetings and Executive Board Meetings including case brief, decisions made and list of participants attended the meeting with time and date and setting up of an effective Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) System and ability to analyze data in qualitative and quantitative form having warnings and alarms system for violators.
The senior member Chairman Inspection and Monitoring Team (CI&MT) in his briefing informed about the operational methodology of NAB related to VR/PB and informed that a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) has already been devised to rationalize the workload and timelines have been prescribed for efficient, effective and expeditious disposal of cases putting a maximum limit of 10 months- from complaint verification-to-inquiry-to-investigation and finally to a reference in the Accountability Court. In order to ensure uniformity and standardization, the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) in vogue were revised after a gap of 10 years to make these responsive to the needs of changed economic, social and technological realities along with goals and targets for smooth conduct of operational activities in accordance with Law and to bring further improvements in the performance of NAB Regional Bureaus. The Conference deliberated all SOPs in detail during the 20th DG’s conference and approved.
The conference also approved Internal Accountability Mechanism of NAB which has been devised within NAB with a view to weed out such elements that for reasons of inefficiency, misconduct, malpractice and violation of laid down SOPs/Rules and bring a bad name to the organization. Chairman NAB directed Senior Member Chairman Inspection and Monitoring Team (CI&MT) to issue policy guidelines to all Regional Bureaus of NAB for implementation and application.
The conference also approved Partly Quantified Grading System (PQGS). Party Quantified Grading System are being evaluated at a given criteria 80% will be considered “Outstanding/Excellent”, marks between 60% to 79% will be considered as “Very Good”, marks between 40% to 49% will be considered as “Good”, while marks less than 40% will be considered as “Below Average”.
DG Operation NAB gave detailed briefing on the operational methodology including effectiveness of Combine Investigation Teams (CIT) and informed that some of the cases of DOC need extension. The Conference approved extension of all pending cases of DOC during 20th DG conference which will now be completed till Dec 31, 2015. Chairman NAB directed that no case will be marked as open ended.
He said that NAB is considered to be now well set to perform to its capacity as most of the pendency of cases is almost over. Some of the SOPs have been revised and approved. A self pride and cooperative spirit have been developed among Investigation Officers, Case Officers and regions. He said Awareness and Media campaign on “Say No To Corruption” are becoming more effective. The DG Conference will continue for another two days. Various issues concerned with improvement of NAB’s output will be discussed.
Qamar Zaman Chaudry, Chairman NAB chaired the annual Director Generals (DGs) Conference of National Accountability Bureau (NAB) at NAB Headquarters here today. The Conference was attended by Deputy Chairman NAB, Prosecutor General Accountability (PGA) and all Regional DGs.
He said that the measures taken by present management of NAB such as introduction of Combined Investigation Teams (CIT), review of Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) making them relevant to the current times, clearly defined Job Descriptions, rational time lines for completing inquiries and investigations, capacity building trainings tailored around specific job requirements and rationalization of workload has started showing results. An objective appraisal system – Partly Quantified Grading System – and the Internal Accountability Mechanism (IAM) has improved quality of the output considerably with fewer instances of highhandedness and unprofessional conduct.
He said that the tempo and momentum generated in 2014 has been sustained into 2015 as well. The stock-taking of pending cases resulted in identification of 1133 in the pending list spread over 12 years. The field formations were encouraged to set deadline for these cases for expeditious disposal on merits. Institutional supervision and support in complex cases was provided through High Level Committee (HLC).
The Chairman appreciated the field formation on having achieved more than 92 percent disposal of these cases. It was made possible through the dedicated and tireless efforts of the entire workforce at all levels for which they deserve unqualified appreciation. He said that moving with the tide of time, NAB has developed an indigenous Monitoring and Evaluation System (MES) which will help in institutionalizing the support and supervision at different levels of management.
He said that the efforts and hard work of two years have now prepared the NAB to make bigger strides towards its ultimate objectives of becoming an efficient and dependable anti-corruption agency. With continuous development of existing workforce through trainings and an enabling, consultative work environment and the induction of 110 investigation officers, currently under training at Sihala, NAB is now more than adequately equipped to perform its functions. With the revision of TCS and MAQs, there are better career prospects for the officers. There are no complaints about any shortage of finances or deficiencies in terms of physical infra-structure and logistic support. He said that the hard work of NAB officer’s for the last two years would go waste if we don’t use it as a strong foundation to build on the values of Fairness, Objectivity, Professionalism and Transparency. This is the new NAB.
DG NAB Headquarters gave a detailed briefing on the newly established Monitoring and Evaluation System (MES) catering the needs of all concerned having salient features of maintenance of data at each stage including complaint entry, complaint verification, inquiry, investigation, prosecution stage and record preservation of Regional Board Meetings and Executive Board Meetings including case brief, decisions made and list of participants attended the meeting with time & date and setting up of an effective Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) System and ability to analyze data in qualitative and quantitative form having warnings and alarms system for violators.
The Senior Member Chairman Inspection and Monitoring Team (CI&MT) in his briefing informed about the operational methodology of NAB related to VR/PB and informed that a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) has already been devised to rationalize the workload and timelines have been prescribed for efficient, effective and expeditious disposal of cases putting a maximum limit of 10 months- from complaint verification-to-inquiry-to-investigation and finally to a reference in the Accountability Court. In order to ensure uniformity and standardization, the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) in vogue were revised after a gap of 10 years to make these responsive to the needs of changed economic, social and technological realities along with goals and targets for smooth conduct of operational activities in accordance with Law and to bring further improvements in the performance of NAB Regional Bureaus. The Conference deliberated all SOPs in detail during the 20th DG’s conference and approved.
The conference also approved Internal Accountability Mechanism of NAB which has been devised within NAB with a view to weed out such elements that for reasons of inefficiency, misconduct, malpractice and violation of laid down SOPs/Rules and bring a bad name to the organization. Chairman NAB directed Senior Member Chairman Inspection and Monitoring Team (CI&MT) to issue policy guidelines to all Regional Bureaus of NAB for implementation and application.
The conference also approved Partly Quantified Grading System (PQGS). Party Quantified Grading System are being evaluated at a given criteria 80% will be considered “Outstanding/Excellent”, marks between 60% to 79% will be considered as “Very Good”, marks between 40% to 49% will be considered as “Good”, while marks less than 40% will be considered as “Below Average”.
DG Operation NAB gave detailed briefing on the operational methodology including effectiveness of Combine Investigation Teams (CIT) and informed that some of the cases of DOC need extension. The Conference approved extension of all pending cases of DOC during 20th DG conference which will now be completed till Dec 31, 2015. Chairman NAB directed that no case will be marked as open ended.
He said that NAB is considered to be now well set to perform to its capacity as most of the pendency of cases is almost over. Some of the SOPs have been revised and approved. A self pride and cooperative spirit have been developed among Investigation Officers, Case Officers and regions. He said Awareness and Media campaign on “Say No To Corruption” are becoming more effective. The DG Conference will continue for another two days. Various issues concerned with improvement of NAB’s output will be discussed.