Rs 901 billion corruption reference under trial in Pakistan: NAB
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ISLAMABAD - National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Chairman Justice (retd) Javed Iqbal on Tuesday said NAB gave top priority to mega white collar corruption cases as per law. The NAB chairman, in a statement, said the Bureau was committed to deal with the corrupt with iron hands. "Corruption is the mother of all evils as it undermines economic development and deprives deserving persons of their due right as per law." He said Pakistan was committed to the United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) in eradicating corruption through its three-pronged Anti- Corruption Strategy of Awareness, Prevention and Enforcement. He said NAB since its inception had received about 399,861 complaints from individuals and private / public organizations. During the period, it authorized 13,180 complaints verification, 8,587 inquiries and 4,124 investigations, and filed 3,401 corruption references in respective accountability courts. Currently, 1,230 corruption references were under trial in respective accountability courts across the country and their approximately worth was of Rs 901 billion. He said the figures of complaints, inquiries and investigations were almost double as compared to the same period of 2018 to 2019. The comparative figures for the latest 18 months were indicative of the hard work being put in by all ranks of NAB staff in an atmosphere of renewed energy and dynamism, where fight against corruption was being taken as a national duty. Increase in the number of complaints also reflected enhanced public trust in NAB, he added. The chairman said NAB’s prime focus was on cases of cheating public at large by fraudulent financial companies, money laundering, bank frauds, willful bank loan defaults, misuse of authority and embezzlement of state funds by government servants etc. Since its inception, he said one of NAB’s major achievements had been the recovery of around Rs 303 billion of ill-gotten money, which was deposited in the national exchequer. He said NAB had perfected its procedures. With reinvigorated zeal and efforts after through detailed introspection and analysis of organizational weaknesses, overhaul of procedures and all pillars of the organization i.e. Operations, Prosecution, Human Resource Development and Awareness and Prevention had been reactivated. He said NAB had established its first Forensic Science Lab (FSL) in NAB Rawalpindi which had facilities of Digital Forensics, Questioned Documents and Fingerprint Analysis. As per the report of Transparency International (TI), he said Pakistan’s ranking in the Corruption Perception Index (CPI) had improved. It was being considered a role model in South Asian countries due its its efforts against corruption. It was a great achievement for Pakistan. The Corruption Perception Index (CPI) in the Pakistan as per Transparency International (TI) report, he said, was declining consistently due to steps taken by the present management of NAB against the corrupt. The other independent national and international watchdogs like PLIDAT and World Economic Forum had also appreciated Pakistan’s efforts to curb corruption in Pakistan. Similarly, Gilani and Gallop in a survey conducted in October 2018 had indicated that 59 percent people of Pakistan had full faith in NAB which was an ample evidence of NAB’s across the board accountability, he added.