NAB has solid evidence of money laundering by big fish: Chairman Javed Iqbal

• NAB chairman details performance of anti-graft body.
• Asks those claiming innocence to approach courts for day to day hearing of their cases.
• Javed Iqbal says NAB has recovered Rs538 billion directly and indirectly from corrupt elements from October 2017 to October 2021.

ISLAMABAD: NAB Chairman Justice (R) Javed Iqbal Sunday said anti-graft body has solid evidence of money-laundering of billions of rupees by a “big fish" which were laundered by opening fake accounts in the names of ‘falooda wala’, ‘chhabri wala’ and ‘papar wala’ etc.

“The learned accountability courts in which NAB had filed references against accused persons are the relevant authority to decide about the innocence of any accused person as per law,” he said in a statement Sunday.

The NAB chairman said the people who are claiming their innocence in media should better request the accountability court concerned to resume hearing of their cases on a daily basis so that they plead about their innocence where law will take its own course.

He said the NAB would continue performing its national duties without caring about any baseless media reports and propaganda against it as an institution per law. He said the NAB is committed to the logical conclusion of mega corruption cases by utilising all available resources as per law.

He said the NAB had constituted a Combined Investigation Team (CIT) to benefit from the collective wisdom of senior supervisory officers. He said the CIT had the services of director, additional director, investigation officer, legal counsel and experts of the monetary and land revenue department which is lending quality.

Javed Iqbal said the NAB was the focal institution of Pakistan under the UN Convention against corruption and the chairman of the Saarc Anti-Corruption Forum.

He said the NAB was considered a role model organisation in Saarc countries.

NAB recoveries

The NAB chairman said the anti-graft body has recovered Rs538 billion directly and indirectly from corrupt elements from October 2017 to October 2021, which is a record achievement as compared to other years. It shows the commitment and dedication of NAB's officers towards the performance of their national responsibilities for eradicating corruption from the country, he said.

He said there are 1278 corruption cases, having an accumulative volume of approximately Rs1335 billion, which are under trial in various accountability courts of the country. The performance of the NAB has been lauded by reputed national and international institutions.

“Pakistan is the only country with whom China has signed an MoU for eradication of corruption,” he added. He said the performance of the NAB is being reviewed regularly on the basis of a monitoring and evaluation system so that it could be improved further.

He said youth is our future; the NAB has signed an MoU with Higher Education Commission to make the youth aware of the ill-effects of corruption in universities and colleges at an early age.

Under this initiative, it has successfully established more than 50,000 Character Building Societies in various universities and colleges besides constituting prevention committees in consultations with respective provincial and federal government departments to assist them to identify and plug loopholes in order to check corruption.

He said that as per Gillani and Gallup Survey, 59% of people have shown trust in the NAB. He said the NAB has devised a comprehensive Quantified Grading System to further improve the performance of NAB headquarters and all regional bureaus.

Originally published in The News