LAHORE: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has set up an independent complaint cell under the supervision of the chief secretary at the Civil Secretariat to address complaints against bureaucrats in a fair and impartial manner.

NAB Deputy Chairman Sohail Nasir on Tuesday announced that in cases of complaints against bureaucrats, the bureau would refrain from directly summoning them.

“Instead, an independent complaint cell has been established under the supervision of the chief secretary to address such concerns in a fair and impartial manner,” he added.

Nasir pointed out that the economy was on the verge of collapse and provision of a business-friendly atmosphere to the business community would be the prime objective of the bureau. For this purpose, the NAB chairman had also visited commerce chambers to ensure support and cooperation of the businessmen.

Addressing a cheque distributing ceremony worth Rs1.67bn to the affectees of the Pak Arab Housing scandal on Tuesday, Mr Nasir affirmed that all cases relating to cheating public matters were the top priority of NAB.

He ensured maintaining the self-respect of every respondent of NAB. “Disgracing any suspect will not be tolerated anymore. NAB will not take any kind of action on any anonymous complaint,” he added.

NAB Lahore Director General Amjad Majeed Aulakh said the bureau had distributed Rs7.5bn among affectees of various scams during the last six months. He said NAB Lahore had recovered more than Rs35bn since inception and it had materialised the biggest plea bargain in Eden Scam worth Rs16bn from which Rs7bn had been disbursed among affectees.

Published in Dawn, February 28th, 2024