Qamar Zaman Chaudhry, Chairman NAB said that NAB is committed to perform its national duty with absolute professionalism, transparency and on merit by adopting Zero Tolerance Policy across the board for corruption free Pakistan.
He said that NAB’s Anti-corruption strategy started yielding positive dividends. Due to its effectiveness, NAB has decided to continue its effective Anti-corruption strategy in order to nabbing corrupt and recover looted money. He said that the main focus of NAB is on cases of cheating public at large by fraudulent financial companies, bank frauds, willful bank loan defaults, misuse of authority and embezzlement of state funds by government servants etc.
He said that the figures of complaints, inquiries and investigations are almost double as compared to the same period of 2014 to 2017. The comparative figures for the latest more than three years are 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 is being taken as a national duty.
He said that NAB has rationalized its timelines 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. NAB has also introduced a new System of Combine Investigation Team (CIT) in order to benefit from the experience and collective wisdom of senior supervisory officers. This system will is not only lending quality to the work but also ensuring that no single individual can influence the proceedings. He said that concept of CIT has proved very successful in order to improve quality of inquiry and investigations and benefit from the experience and collective wisdom of senior officers.
The Chairman NAB said that NAB is role model for SAARC Countries. Pakistan is first Chairman of SAARC Anti-Corruption forum in order to have collaborative efforts for eradication of corruption on the basis of best practices. NAB has signed MOU with China in order to eradicate corruption. Under this MOU, Pakistan and China will oversee and ensure transparency in Pakistan China Economic Corridor Projects.
He said that to create Awareness against the ill effects of corruption among the youth of Pakistan, NAB in collaboration with Higher Education Commission (HEC) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). Over 42, 000 Character Building Societies (CBSs) have been established by NAB in the country in universities/colleges to create awareness against corruption as youths are considered a vanguard in this fight. He said that NAB has established its first Forensic Science Lab (FSL) in NAB Rawalpindi/Islamabad. The Forensic Science Lab has facilities of Digital Forensics, Questioned Documents and Fingerprint Analysis.
The Chairman NAB said that NAB has constituted Prevention Committees in order to identify loopholes, suggest ways and means to plug loopholes and measures for improvement/strengthening regulatory mechanism of Federal and Provincial Governments for transparency, meritocracy, fair play and compliance of relevant laws / rules, NAB has constituted prevention committees on Capital Development Authority (CDA), Ministry of Religious Affairs, Agriculture and National Food security, National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination, Prevention Committee on FBR, Prevention Committee on Press Information Department (PID) and Prevention Committees constituted in Provinces relating to Health, Education, Revenue and Housing, Cooperatives etc. NAB’s Prevention Committee on Ministry of Religious Affairs has forwarded its recommendations to Ministry of Religious Affairs which were considered by Ministry of Religious Affairs very aggressively in order to provide better facilities to Hajis and to address problems of Hajis. Due to this reason, arrangements made by Ministry of Religious Affairs during 2016 were appreciated by all Hajis.
He emphasized that all regional bureaus of NAB to constitute Prevention Committees in different departments in consultation with concerned departments so that NAB may identify/ suggest ways and means to plug loopholes and measures for improvement/strengthening regulatory mechanism of Federal and Provincial Governments for transparency, meritocracy, fair play and compliance of relevant laws / rules for further effective working of Provincial Departments.
Qamar Zaman Chaudhry, Chairman NAB said that the initiatives taken by the present management of NAB have started yielding dividends as today NAB’s conviction ratio is about 76 percent which is a remarkable achievement in investigation of White Collar Crimes.
