ISLAMABAD, Apr 23 (APP):Chairman, National Accountability Bureau (NAB), Justice (Retd) Javed Iqbal
on Monday said the Bureau was absolutely committed to eradicating corruption
with iron hands and make the country corruption-free.
He said eradication of corruption is vital to for strong economy and prosperity
of the country.
Chairing a meeting to review performance of NAB at its Headquarters, the
Chairman said year 2017 which can be called basically a year of re-invigoration
of NAB, “We have moved with new zeal and effort.”
He said through detailed introspection and analysis of organizational
weaknesses, overhaul of procedures and processes, all pillars of the
organization i.e. Operations, Prosecution, Human Resource Development
and Awareness and Prevention, have been reactivated and reinvigorated.
The Chairman said the concept of a Combined Investigation Team (CIT)
has been introduced in NAB where two investigation officers and a legal
consultant are working as a team for a fair, transparent and unbiased,
inquiry/investigations as per law.
Javed Iqbal said NAB has decided to fix time limit for each step of
enforcement i.e. two months for Complaint Verification, four months for
Inquiry and four months for Investigation.
A total of 10 months have been laid down from complaint verification
to inquiry-inquiry to investigation-investigation to filing of reference in
respective Accountability Court to its logical conclusion.
He said Transparency International has rated Pakistan in
Corruption Perception Index (CPI) from 175 to 116. This is
because of effective Anti Corruption Strategy which has started
yielding positive dividends.
Similarly, PILDAT has indicated that 42 per cent people
have confidence upon NAB as compared to Federal Investigation
Agency (FIA) and Police. The World Economic Forum and Mishal
Pakistan according to Global Competitiveness Index of World
Economic Forum rated Pakistan from 126 to 122 this year.
He said NAB officers are deeming eradication of
corruption as their national duty. “Efforts to combat corruption
have been initiated with realization that eradication of corruption
from Pakistan is not only NAB’s responsibility but it is a collective
social responsibility; that it would result in common good and that
we all are together in eradication of corruption from Pakistan,” he
added.
He directed all officers of NAB to demonstrate absolute fairness
and transparency as per law in discharge of their national duties.