Fight against corruption, a national duty: NAB chairman

ISLAMABAD: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has received nearly 350,000 complaints during the present management's tenure, with over Rs 50 billion of ill-gotten money recovered and deposited in the national exchequer. 

It was revealed during a meeting in the capital that over last three-and-a-half years NAB's overall conviction rate has stood at 76 percent. 

NAB Chairman Qamar Zaman Chaudhry was briefed by the Prosecutor General Accountability (PGA) NAB Waqas Qadeer Dar, during a high-level meeting at the NAB headquarters to review the overall performance of the prosecution division. 

Dar highlighted, that the prosecution division was an important part of the bureau provided legal opinion, legal assistance to all NAB operation divisions and regional bureaus during conduct of inquires and investigations as per law and standard operating procedures. 

During the meeting Chaudhry stated that the bureau had received 343,356 complaints from individuals and private/public organisations and have authorised 11,581 complaint verifications which resulted in 7,587 inquires. 

The bureau held 3,846 investigations, resulting in 2,808 corruption references being filed, Chaudhry added. 

When compared with the preceding three-and-a-half years, complaints, inquires and investigations have almost doubled during the present management's tenure, which shows that the bureau and its officials taking the fight against corruption as a national duty, the meeting was told. 

Terming the year 2014 as a year of re-invigoration Chaudhry said after introspection and analysis of organisational weaknesses, overhauling of procedures and processes the various divisions of the bureau have been reactivated. 

Chaudhry highlighted the that bureau was the only anti-corruption organisation which had a prescribed maximum time-limit of 10 months from complaint verification till filing a reference before the accountability court after verification and inquiry for disposal of cases. 

While terming the bureau's work a challenging task fighting corruption and white collar crime, Chaudhry expressed his resolve that the bureau will have to beat the clock by putting in hard work and ensuring transparency as per law.