(NAB) was established in 1999 as Pakistan’s apex anti-corruption organisation which operates under National Accountability Ordinance-1999 which is extended to whole of Pakistan including Fata and Gilgit-Baltistan. NAB has its Headquarter in Islamabad and it has eight regional offices located at Rawalpindi/Islamabad, Lahore, Multan, Sukkur, Quetta, Peshawar, Karachi and Gilgit Baltistan. NAB under the present leadership of honourable Mr. Justice Javed Iqbal, Chairman NAB not only adopted proactive and holistic National Anti-Corruption Strategy of Awareness, Prevention and Enforcement but announced ‘Accountability for all’ policy.
During the tenure of honourable Mr. Justice Javed Iqbal, NAB had initiated various complaint verifications, inquiries, investigations and filed corruption references. Inquiries on issues including corruption reports in 56 public limited companies of Punjab, 435 offshore companies of Pakistanis in Panama and British Virgin Islands, return of housing societies’ plundered money reports, arrest of absconders and proclaimed offenders. Furthermore, the NAB chairman has started listening public complaints on every last Thursday of the month and directed DGs of regional bureaus to listen public complaints related to corruption in their respective regional bureaus. The same order was conveyed to all DGs and they have listened the complaints of citizen at their respective bureaus. The response from citizen was very encouraging and they appreciated the initiative of NAB chairman for opening the doors of NAB for general public. NAB chairman had also summoned three Executive Board meetings and authorised filing of references in various accountability courts after due deliberation. NAB during the period of present management of NAB have received Rs363 billion directly and indirectly from corrupt elements and deposited in national exchequer which is a record achievement. The figures of complaints, inquiries and investigations are almost double as compared to the same period of 2018 to 2019. The comparative figures 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.
NAB’s operational methodology comprises of complaint verification, inquiry and investigation. NAB’s officers/officials need to follow strict Code of Conduct/SOPs and merit according to law. Starting from the year 2017 which can be called basically a year of reinvigoration of NAB, we have moved with new zeal and effort. During the tenure of present management of NAB, the overall convection ratio in respective accountability courts is about 68.8 percent which is excellent as compared any other anti-corruption agency.
NAB has established its first Forensic Science Lab (FSL) in NAB Rawalpindi which has facilities of Digital Forensics, Questioned Documents and Fingerprint Analysis. NAB has rationalised its 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. NAB has also introduced a new System of Combine Investigation Team (CIT) in order to benefit from the experience and collective wisdom of senior supervisory officers, a system of CIT comprising of Director, Additional Director, Investigation Officer and a Senior Legal Counsel has been put in place. This is not only lending quality to the work but also ensuring that no single individual can influence the official proceedings of NAB.
