Measures in NAB help considerable improvement in quality of output: Chairman

ISLAMABAD, Oct 27 (APP): Chairman National Accountability
Bureau (NAB), Qamar Zaman Chaudhry has said Combined Investigation
Teams (CIT) and review of Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs)
intitiatives have made the organisation relevant to current times
with considerable improvement in quality of output.
He said that the measures taken by present management of
NAB such as CIT, clearly defined job descriptions, rational time
lines for completing inquiries and investigations, capacity building
trainings tailored around specific job requirements and
rationalization of workload has started showing results.
He was chairing an annual two-day Director Generals (DGs)
Conference of NAB here and was attended by Deputy Chairman NAB,
Prosecutor General Accountability (PGA) and all Regional DGs.
Various issues concerned with improvement of NAB’s output were
discussed.
In his opening remarks, the Chairman said the Bureau is an
apex anti-corruption organization which was established under NAO to
eradicate corruption from the country. Due to various reasons,
NAB’s working got adversely affected during the previous years. This
also affected the working of the workforce.
He said in this backdrop of dismay, the year 2014 was the
year of reinvigoration of NAB and added the present management
initiated the process of putting NAB back on rails.
He said after a thorough and comprehensive analysis of
defects and deficiencies in the structure and operations of the
organization, a reform and restructuring programme was put in place
which has not only entrusted a new lease of life for the
organization but also infused it with a new character – a character
marked by Fairness, Objectivity, Professionalism and Transparency
which is critical to achieving efficiency across different tiers of
the organization.
Qamar Zaman Ch. said that the tempo and momentum generated
in 2014 has been sustained into 2015 as well. The stock-taking of
pending cases resulted in identification of 1133 in pending list
spread over 12 years.
He said the field formations were encouraged to set deadline
for these cases for expeditious disposal on merits, adding that
institutional supervision and support in complex cases was provided
through High Level Committee (HLC).
The Chairman appreciated field formation on having achieved
more than 92 percent disposal of these cases which was made possible
through the dedicated and tireless efforts of entire workforce at
all levels for which they deserve unqualified appreciation.
He said moving with the tide of time, NAB has developed an
indigenous Monitoring and Evaluation System (MES) which will help in
institutionalizing the support and supervision at different levels
of management.
Director General NAB Headquarters gave a detailed briefing on
newly established Monitoring and Evaluation System (MES), catering
the needs of all concerned having salient features of maintenance of
data at each stage including complaint entry, complaint
verification, inquiry, investigation, prosecution stage and record
preservation of Regional Board Meetings and Executive Board
Meetings.
In his briefing, Senior Member Chairman Inspection and
Monitoring Team (CI&MT) informed that a Standard Operating Procedure
(SOP) has already been devised to rationalize workload and timelines
have been prescribed 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.
In order to ensure uniformity and standardization, the
Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) in vogue were revised after a gap
of 10 years to make these responsive to needs of changed economic,
social and technological realities along with goals and targets for
smooth conduct of operational activities in accordance with law and
to bring further improvements in the performance of Regional
Bureaus.
The Conference deliberated all SOPs in detail during the 20th
DGs conference and approved. The conference also approved Internal
Accountability Mechanism which has been devised within NAB with a
view to weed out such elements that for reasons of inefficiency,
misconduct, malpractice and violation of laid down SOPs/Rules and
bring a bad name to the organization.
Chairman NAB directed Senior Member to issue policy
guidelines to all Regional Bureaus for implementation and
application.
The conference also approved Partly Quantified Grading System
(PQGS).
DG Operation gave detailed briefing on operational methodology
including effectiveness of Combine Investigation Teams (CIT) and
informed that some of the cases of DOC need extension.
The Conference approved extension of all pending cases of DOC
during Conference which will now be completed till Dec 31.
The Chairman directed that no case will be marked as open
ended.
He said that NAB is considered to be now well set to perform to
its capacity as most of the pendency of cases is almost over.
Some of the SOPs have been revised and approved. A self pride
and cooperative spirit have been developed among Investigation
Officers, Case Officers and regions.
He said Awareness and Media campaign on “Say No To Corruption”
are becoming more effective.
He said with continuous development of existing workforce
through trainings and an enabling, consultative work environment and
the induction of 110 investigation officers, currently under
training at Sihala, NAB is now more than adequately equipped to
perform its functions.
There are no complaints about any shortage of finances or
deficiencies in terms of physical infra-structure and logistic
support, he said and added the hard work of NAB officer’s for the
last two years would go waste if we do not use it as a strong
foundation to build on values of Fairness, Objectivity,
Professionalism and Transparency. This is the new NAB, he said.