June 30, 2008	Monday	Jamadi-us-Sani 25, 1429

LAHORE, June 29: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) is facing a serious ‘financial crunch’ as it has received only 16 per cent from the federal government against its demand proposal for 2008-09 fiscal.

According to a source, the NAB had sought a total of Rs950 million for 2008-09 fiscal but the government did not agree to the demand and instead allocated Rs478 million. The government, however, had only released a sum of Rs150 million to the bureau, giving no reason for withholding the remaining amount.

“This is tantamount to strangulating the bureau,” the source said.

The PPP-led coalition government had announced `abolishing’ the institution of NAB soon after coming into power some three months ago. The government later hinted at elimination of `political victimisation’ by NAB.

The source said that it could be the first step in the direction of minimising the bureau operations.

The source further maintained that slashing and withholding of NAB funds would follow lay-offs on a large scale as the given grant (Rs150 million) would not last for more than two months.

“The bureau may not be able to pursue a good number of inquiries under investigation throughout the country, besides the process and prosecution of over 500 references in accountability courts may also be affected.”

He said recovery process would slow down that meant a large number of people hit by financial scams would suffer more. Work on hundreds of inquiries which were also in the pipeline may not be initiated due to financial constraints.

A senior officer was of the view that if NAB had been ‘misused’ in the past for ‘political gains’ it did not mean that there was something wrong with the institution. He said it was the duty of the government to ensure that NAB should function as an ‘independent anti-corruption’ institution which should not be allowed to be misused in any case in any manner.

The officer also suggested that accountability should be across the board, transparent and even handed.

He said: “Pakistan is a signatory to the United Nation’s convention against corruption and NAB has been officially designated as the apex national anti-corruption body which follows the three best international principles of anti-corruption: awareness, prevention and enforcement.”

“It is indeed surprising that on one the hand the Chinese government is inviting NAB to help set up its anti-corruption agency at provincial level and on the other its own government is considering to limit its role in Pakistan,” he maintained. At present, the bureau is investigating more than 400 cases involving billions of rupees worth of fraud. At prosecution side, around 600 cases are reportedly under process. An average 500 people visit NAB offices across the country daily to register their complaint against corrupt practices. NAB has a staff of about 1,900.

There is also a proposal of renaming NAB as the National Accountability Commission (NAC) or the National Commission for Accountability (NCA).