November 13, 2002	Wednesday	Ramazan 7, 1423

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ISLAMABAD, Nov 12: The National Accountability Bureau has, over the last three years, investigated as many as 879 persons allegedly involved in scams ranging from embezzlement to overstepping official powers.

According to a documentary evidence provided to Dawn, 532 of those investigated were bureaucrats, 180 politicians, 149 businessmen and 18 armed forces personnel.

After due investigation, 510 persons were referred to accountability courts for trial whereupon 170 had plea bargained — a process that is finalized in a court of law whereby an accused is pardoned after he pays a certain percentage of the embezzled money.

Thereafter, individuals prosecuted included 87 politicians, 203 bureaucrats, 43 businessmen, 8 armed forces personnel. Thirty-three others fell in the miscellaneous category.

Additionally, the NAB has collected an amount of Rs2.58 billion through plea bargains. Besides, savings/indirect recoveries worth Rs20.95 billion were also made by the bureau.

The NAB has helped banks in the recovery of defaulted money amounting to Rs80 billion and was also instrumental in rescheduling of debts to the tune of Rs55.73 billion.

During this exercise, the NAB has made an expenditure of Rs602.074 million.

It has also been pointed out in the NAB document that a major obstacle in the recovery of the wealth stashed away abroad was the absence of adequate number of mutual legal treaties and stringent laws of the host countries. Even then, the NAB has been successful in making breakthroughs.

The federal government claims that through these actions, corruption at the highest level has been eliminated. However, at the lower level, it continues to create problems for the general public.

The bureau has formulated a National Anti-Corruption Strategy with the assistance of over three thousand individuals from all segments of society who were consulted throughout the process. Its aim is to develop a sustainable system for stamping out corruption.

Under the new mandate, the NAB will have additional functions (through awareness, research and monitoring) while the accountability will continue to remain its core function.