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NAB recovered Rs 258bn, secured 1,770 convictions since inception
ISLAMABAD: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has recovered Rs 258.392 billion and convicted 1,770 persons involved in different corruption and misappropriation cases, since its inception in November 1999.
The federal watchdog, in its complete performance report, has informed the Senate that it stopped corruption of Rs 350 billion through its awareness and prevention regime. This was revealed in a document submitted in the Senate in reply to a question by Sughra Imam of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) regarding the overall performance of the bureau, a copy of which is available with the Daily Times. The document states that NAB has so far worked out 3,518 cases either through judiciary, voluntary return (VR), plea bargaining (PB) and transfer to other departments, while 3,014 cases have been successfully closed.
It reveals that 1,770 persons have been convicted so far through the courts, plea bargain in NAB cases on account of corruption, misappropriation, and criminal breach of trust and misuse of authority causing loss to the national exchequer and denting the national kitty. The document revealed that the federal watchdog is actively pursuing as many as 648 inquiries, 243 investigations and 576 references which are currently pending with the NAB.
The bureau has claimed that through its monitoring mechanism it has prevented potential corruption of about Rs 1.6 trillion while keeping a vigilant eye on 300 mega projects of national significance. NAB was established on November 16, 1999 by the regime of then military ruler Pervez Musharraf with a mission to eliminate corruption through a comprehensive approach encompassing prevention, awareness, monitoring and combating.
When contacted, NAB spokesperson Hafiz Muhammad Irfan confirmed the submission of the performance report in the Senate and added that NAB recovery ratio stands 1:47 and the conviction rate is 67 percent. He said that the incumbent NAB chairman has directed all the regional offices and all wings of NAB to expeditiously pursue the cases to recover the looted money and ensure maximum conviction. He claimed that with its performance the bureau stands among the top anti-graft agencies of the world.
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk