Islamabad: Eradication of corruption is the top priority of NAB as NAB is committed to eradicate corruption by adopting Zero Tolerance Policy.
This was said by Chairman NAB Qamar Zaman Chaudhry. He said that considering corruption as the biggest hurdle in the way of prosperous Pakistan, NAB was established as an apex anti corruption organization with a mandate to eradicate corruption and to recover hard earned looted money of innocent people from corrupt.
He said that due to NAB’s proactive National Anti-Corruption Strategy to eradicate corruption, NAB has received about 3,43,356 complaints from individuals and private / public organizations. During this period NAB authorized 11, 581 complaint verification, 7587 inquiries, 3846 investigations, filed 2808 corruption references in respective accountability courts and overall conviction ratio is about 76 percent. nt of NAB.
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 last 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. Increase in the number of complaints also reflects enhanced public trusted in the NAB. The PILDAT in its report supports the position stated above as 42% people trusted NAB against 30 % for police and 29 % for government officials. The recent report of Transparency International also rated Pakistan in Corruption Perception Index (CPI) from 126 to 116 which is a great achievement for Pakistan due to Chairman NAB’s efforts.
The World Economic Forum and Mishal Pakistan according to Global Competitiveness Index of the World Economic Forum rated Pakistan from 126 to 122 this year which is great achievement of Pakistan due to NAB efforts.
He said that NAB has devised Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) to rationalize the 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.
He said that NAB is committed to eradicate corruption from the country by adopting Zero Tolerance Policy for corruption free Pakistan. He said that NAB’s Anti-corruption strategy proved very successful which continuing in 2017 due to its effectiveness. He said that NAB hopes that joint efforts of all stakeholders can collaborate to check corruption and corrupt practices before happening with the help of all stakeholders, civil society, media and people at large.
He said that NAB is mandated to carry out Awareness activities functions against corruption in pursuance of Section 33C of National Accountability Ordinance (NAO). Under NAB’s proactive Awareness and Prevention campaign across the country, NAB has been engaging different Governmental, Non-Governmental Organizations, media, Civil Society and other segments of society in order to aware people about the ill effects of corruption.
He said as per the positive feedback received from various segments of society about NAB’s Awareness and Prevention campaign is very encouraging as print and electronic media gave extensive coverage in highlighting such a national cause throughout the country which is appreciated.