ISLAMABAD, Feb 8: National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has devised a National Anti-Corruption Strategy under which all the federal and provincial government departments will work as coordinators to help eradicate corruption from society, an official of the NAB said.

Speaking to Dawn on Saturday, the official said the strategy would formally be launched on Feb 10.

The official, giving detail, said that approval for the formulation of the strategy was given by the last cabinet just before election-2002.

A national steering committee had also been formed to oversee operation of the NAB and the government departments which would follow the strategy.

The committee, he said, comprised secretaries of interior, information, law and finance ministries. The auditor general of Pakistan, Central Board of Revenue chief, Planning Commission chairman, media representatives and others were also included in the body.

Governors of all the four provinces would have close liaison with the steering committee for a better coordination of the provincial departments in implementing the strategy, he said.

Replying to a query about the function of regional offices of the NAB, he said that they would also coordinate with the provincial government departments.

Answering another question, the official said that according to the NAB Ordinance, the bureau could take any step to weed out corruption from society, and that the strategy was also a part of the government’s efforts to redress the wrong.

“Without cooperation of the federal and provincial government departments, the NAB alone could not eradicate the corruption from the country, therefore the government had decided to bring the departments under a net of the government’s anti-corruption policy,” he said.