by Shafqat Ali

 

ISLAMABAD, May 18(Gwadar Pro) - National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Chairman Justice Javed Iqbal (retd) has said that no corruption will be tolerated in the multi-billion-dollar China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) projects.

 

“Pakistan is the only country with whom China has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for eradication of corruption. Pakistan and China are jointly working to ensure transparency in China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) projects," he said in a statement on Monday.

 

He said NAB is the focal organisation of Pakistan under the United National convention against Corruption (UNCAC). 

 

Regarding the overall performance of the Bureau against corruption, he said that NAB had filed 1,269 corruption cases having an accumulative value of Rs 950 billion in the country which were subjudice in the learned accountability courts.

 

The NAB chairman said that NAB during 2020 had recovered Rs 321.4829 billion from corrupt elements, which was a record achievement in a year, adding that it showed a commitment and dedication of the NAB officers towards national responsibilities in eradicating corruption from the country.

 

Iqbal said that NAB had received 487,964 complaints and authorised 15,930 complaint verifications, 10,041 inquiries and 4,598 investigations since its inception. 

 

“As many as 3,682 references were also filed, and NAB also recovered Rs790 billion from corrupt elements during the period,” he added.

 

He said that NAB was a people friendly institution, adding that the performance of NAB had been lauded by reputed national and international institutions.

 

He said that NAB had become a role model for South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) member countries to eradicate corruption, enabling Pakistan to become the first chairman of SAARC Anti-Corruption Forum, which was a great achievement. 

 

He said that NAB had its headquarters in Islamabad, adding that the regional bureaus were located in Rawalpindi, Lahore, Karachi, Quetta, KPK, Multan, Sukkur and a sub-office in Gilgit Baltistan. 

 

“Today, NAB has been rejuvenated in order to eradicate corruption from Pakistan. The performance of NAB in the areas of monitoring and system evaluation is being reviewed on a regular basis. NAB has proved that its actions against corrupt elements are across the board as it does not believe in victimisation. The prestige and reputation of NAB has increased manifold due to its indiscriminate and visible action against the big fish,"he said.