ISLAMABAD: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has recovered Rs2.1 billion in looted money from the corrupt over the past seven months.
This was disclosed by NAB Chairman Justice (retd) Javed Iqbal on Friday while distributing cheques at the body’s headquarters in Islamabad.
Justice (retd) Iqbal said that eradication of corruption is vital for the prosperity of Pakistan, adding that the anti-graft body was committed to eradicating corruption with iron hands in order to make Pakistan corruption-free. He said that NAB was determined to return looted money of those affected by different housing and cooperative societies.
In 2017, he said, NAB had revamped its working through a detailed introspection and analysis of organisational weaknesses and reframing all procedures and processes such as operations, prosecution, human resources and awareness.
Moreover, the concept of “Combined Investigation Team” (CIT) was introduced in NAB for a transparent and unbiased investigation as per law.
The new system of CIT is facilitating the NAB officers in assessing cases with more thorough scrutiny. Due to recent crackdowns, the overall conviction ratio of NAB has increased to 77 per cent.
Moreover, he said that the investigation process had been streamlined, and a 10-month time limit had been set for disposing of cases. This includes two months for complaint verification, four months for inquiry and four months for investigation.
Furthermore, the NAB chief said that Pakistan’s rating in Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index (CPI) had improved from 175 to 116.
The improvement, Justice (retd) Iqbal said, was due to the new anti-corruption strategy.
Similarly, Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency (PILDAT) have indicated that 42 per cent of people trusts NAB as compared to other investigative agencies including the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) and police.
The World Economic Forum Global Competitiveness Index ranking for Pakistan too had improved from 126 to 122.
Moreover, he stated that eradication of corruption has become the wish of the entire nation, with NAB the primary organisation for that purpose.
In this regard, Justice (retd) Iqbal said that NAB had initiated complaint verifications, inquiries and investigations against powerful politicians, bureaucrats and ex-military officers across the board on alleged allegations of corruption.
