LAHORE, Oct 11: The National Accountability Bureau Cooperatives Wing has arranged pay back of nearly Rs3 billion to 24,294 victims of defunct cooperative societies and the banks with the assistance of the Punjab Cooperative Board for Liquidation so far.

NAB director-general Maj-Gen Muhammad Masood Alam disclosed this while speaking at the distribution ceremony of cheques of Rs148.8 million among 1,480 account holders of defunct cooperative societies at Chamba House here on Monday.

He said the ceremony marked the commencement of the 100 per cent refund of deposits to the account holders of eight defunct cooperative finance corporations and completion of 50 per cent refund to the victims of remaining societies.

Mr Alam assured the cooperatives account holders that the NAB would make all possible efforts to ensure refund of 100 per cent refund to all of them.

Punjab's NAB director-general Brig Farooq Maan said the bureau had been arranging refund of deposits of the victims of defunct cooperative societies on top priority basis ever since the starting of the process by President Pervez Musharraf on July 5, 2001.