Collective efforts must to eradicate corruption : Qamar

ISLAMABAD, Dec 10 (APP): National Accountability Bureau (NAB)
Chairman Qamar Zaman Chaudhry on Saturday asked all segments of
the society to join NAB in its efforts to eradicate corruption so as to leave a better and prosperous Pakistan for future generations.
Especially the youth, he said, needed to stand united against corruption to tackle the menace successfully.
“We all have a role to play and we should refrain from finger pointing while corruption goes unchecked. We must collectively fight to destroy this cancer that eats deeper in to moral fabric of our society,” he said while addressing a function at Gujrat Law College.
The Bureau, he said, had established more than 42,000 Character
Building Societies (CBS) in educational institutions to sensitize future leaders against corruption,
He said NAB and HEC had signed a memorandum of understanding
(MoU) to make concerted efforts to root out corruption from the society and create awareness about the ill effects of corruption among the youth.
The NAB Chairman said place and importance of the youth in society could not be overemphasized. The youth were the greatest asset that a nation could have. Not only they were legitimately regarded as future leaders, they were potentially and actually the greatest investment for a country’s development, he added.
He said that Pakistan was endowed with this asset in a big
way. Estimates showed that 60% of the country’s populations was categorized as young meaning in bracket of less than 30 years of age, he added.
They needed to contribute to the cause by extending full support to state and anti corruption agencies in spreading awareness about ill effects of the menace, he said.
Qamar Zaman said prevention regime was another effective tool to combat corruption and misuse of authority at an early stage before it happened.
A large number of prevention committees, he said, had been
established at NAB HQ and regional bureaus levels.
Recommendations of the prevention committees had been finalized and forwarded to quarters concerned for implementation, he added.
He said the process of accountability had to be central concept where each and every one needed to adopt the concept of transforming the mindset of acceptance of corruption to that of total rejection and zero tolerance. Efforts of NAB through enforcement had also created a potent deterrence against corruption and had an overall positive effect.
The NAB Chairman said the prosecution of cases in courts of law
had also improved in the last three years. In first nine months of the current year, it stood at 76 %.
He said starting with the year 2014, which must be called a year
of reinvigoration, “we have moved with new zeal and effort. Through detailed introspection and analysis of organizational weaknesses, overhaul of procedures and business processes, all pillars of organization i.e. operations, prosecution, human resource development and awareness and prevention have been reactivated and energized.”
He said on enforcement front, which was the core
function of NAB, performance spoke for itself. NAB finalized 1114 inquiries in 2015 as compared to 585 in 2014 and only 243 in 2013; similarly, 402 investigations were finalized in 2015 as compared to 188 in 2014 and 129 in 2013.
Around 397 references were filed in courts in 2015 as compared to 208 in 2014 and 119 in 2013.
He said to ensure objectivity and standardization across the board, the Standing Operating Procedures (SOPs) were placed on NAB’s website for convenience of all individuals interacting with NAB.
He said it was measured through a Quantifiable Grading System (QGS). Grading of NAB’s seven regions had been conducted for the year 2015 under QGS and the results were published. The NAB Karachi Region was adjudged the best Region for 2015, he added.
He said NAB was also operating a fair and effective Internal Accountability Management (IAM) System for its officers and staff. A web based Monitoring & Evaluation System (MES) had also been implemented.
He said NAB as the apex anti corruption organization, through its committed efforts had recovered Rs. 279.248 billion ($ 2.79 billion) since its inception.
Chairman Gujrat Law College, Syed Ali Imran, Prosecutor General NAB, Waqas Qadeer, faculty members and students were also present on the occasion.