National Accountability Bureau Chairman Javed Iqbal on Thursday directed the bureau’s officers to “dispose of mega corruption cases on priority”.

Chairing a meeting held in Islamabad to review the overall performance of regional bureaus, the former justice said the bureau was putting all its resources and energies to use to “arrest proclaimed offenders, absconders and corrupt elements on basis of solid evidence”.

The NAB chairman also called for transferring low magnitude cases to other anti-corruption departments so that cases of all nature could be disposed of within 10 months.

“The accountability bureau has devised an effective operational mechanism for conducting complaint verification, investigations and inquiries by utilising collective wisdom of senior supervisory staff,” he said, adding that from now onward “no one could dare influence investigations”.

The meeting was informed that the bureau has apprehended 503 corrupt elements in the last 12 months.

The NAB registered complaints against 44,315 persons, out of which 1,713 complaints were verified, inquiries were initiated against 877 persons, investigations were conducted against 227 persons and 440 corruption references were filed in different accountability courts.

Moreover, the bureau has deposited record Rs2,580 million in the national exchequer after recovering looted money from the corrupt persons during the past one year.