ISLAMABAD, Feb 08 (APP):Chairman of National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Justice Javed Iqbal Friday said the anti-graft watchdog was making sincere efforts to bring back home the corrupt elements fled abroad after looting billion of rupee from here.
Chairing a meeting, convened to review the performance of NAB’s operation and prosecution divisions, Justice Javed said NAB was making utmost efforts to nab the looters and stand them in the dock, said a press release.
He said NAB has devised a strategy to rid the country from corruption and deal the menace of corruption with iron hands.
He said it was the national duty of NAB to ensure corruption free Pakistan. He directed NAB officers to perform their duties in a transparent way in accordance with the law.
The chairman said NAB has become a prestigious institution owing to the sheer hard work of its staff. Due to its credibility, the bureau has received 54,344 complaints in just last 13 months. After thorough scrutiny of all complaints, he said, the Bureau had approved conducting complaint verifications of 2125, conducting inquiries of 1059 complaints. Moreover, he said, the bureau had also accorded approval to conducting investigations of 302 complaints and 590 references which were filed in various accountability courts and were at different stages of hearing right now.
In last 13 months, he said, NAB has apprehended 561 culprits, besides depositing Rs 3,919.011 million in national kitty after recovering from their possession.
NAB’s ratio of punishment remained 70.8 percent during 2018, which is far better than all institutes working to eradicate corruption.
Right now, he said, 1280 corruption references involving Rs 900 billion corruption were being heard by various accountability courts.
The chairman has already instructed all regional bureaus to submit early hearing of cases pleas in different accountability courts. NAB prosecutors have also been directed to fight cases with full vigour in light of evidences so that the looted money could be recovered and deposited in the national exchequer.
Last year, NAB has recovered over Rs one billion from different Housing Societies and returned to the affectees. The chairman said NAB was striving to recover the hard earned looted money of poor people from illegal housing societies.