ISLAMABAD, Oct 16: There is no law in the country which requires judges and armed forces personnel to declare details of their assets and liabilities, said a spokesman for the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) here on Thursday.

He said a new legislation was required for bringing judges and armed forces personnel under the law of assets declaration.

Under the existing laws, only politicians and bureaucrats are required to declare their assets, he said, adding that only the politicians’ assets were made public because being the public representatives, they were obliged to pay a price for their position.

The spokesman agreed that the judges and armed forced personnel, too, should be made to declare their assets. But in the absence of the required legislation, it was impossible, he added.

Speaking about the National Anti Corruption Strategy (NACS), he said that under the plan, the NAB was formulating a new education curriculum with the assistance of the education ministry.

“The main objective behind the changes in curriculum is to create awareness about corruption among students at all levels,” he added.

The NAB, he said, in this connection was holding a seminar on Oct 22, in Islamabad which would be attended by renowned curriculum developers of the country.

A workshop was also being held soon to interact with the legislators about the NACS on the same issue, he said.

He said a mass-scale awareness campaign for the NACS would be launched in December in which talk shows and other programmes would be televised.

In the second phase of the drive, articles and editorials would be published in national dailies, and in the third phase, debate competitions and talks shows would be held in educational institutions.

Replying to a question about implementation of the NACS, he said all the government departments had been directed to make their internal accountability system more effective.

About the recent forex scam, he said only 14 out of the total 51 forex companies were registered with the Security Exchange Commission (SEC).

He said cases of nine registered forex companies were under trial in the high courts. Of these nine, three are (Harvest Top Worth, Bulls and Bears and Rauf International) are large companies, he said.

The spokesman said case of two forex firms, Still Rich and Nexus, were being investigated by the NAB and their cases had yet to be taken to the courts. “The State Bank of Pakistan and the SEC are also assisting the NAB in the investigations into these forex firms scam.”

Answering another question, the official said the amount accruing from plea bargaining was deposited in the NAB chairman’s account, and therefore it was not possible for any of the NAB officials to deposit this amount into his personal account to earn mark-up on it.

The NAB official told that the government had made a reciprocal treaty with the United States under which wanted accused could be handed over to each other. “But the country is still required a formal agreement in this regard to lay hands on the wanted persons now in exile in the US.”

About the Alliance Motor scam, the spokesman said the NAB had recovered Rs2.5 billion in this case and 25 per cent of each depositor’s amount would be reimbursed at a ceremony to be held in Karachi on Oct 21.

He said the people who had reportedly deposited Rs3.57 billion with the Alliance Motors would get the first instalment of their dues at this ceremony.