ISLAMABAD: The National Accounta­bility Bureau (NAB) has presented its annual report to National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq and Chief Justice of Pakistan Anwar Zaheer Jamali, in a slight policy shift from the past for the first time.

According to the National Accountability Ordinance, the NAB chairman is supposed to present the bureau’s annual report only to the president of the country.

NAB Chairman Qamar Zaman Chaudhry called on the National Assembly Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq on Tuesday and presented him the bureau’s annual report for the year 2015.

Two weeks ago, Mr Chaudhry met Chief Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali and presented him the NAB’s annual report.

Talking to Dawn, NAB’s spokesman admitted that it was for the first time since NAB’s establishment that the annual report had been presented to the NA speaker and the chief justice of the Supreme Court.

“There is no policy shift in NAB. We are transparent and open for all and, therefore, we presented NAB’s performance report to the custodian of the lower house,” the NAB’s spokesman said.

He said that as NAB’s performance was subject to scrutiny by the court, “we presented NAB’s report to the chief justice of the Supreme Court to apprise him of the bureau’s performance”.

“Although it is for the first time, it is a good gesture to take advice from the speaker and the chief justice on accountability matters,” the official said.

Meanwhile, an official press release issued from NAB’s headquarters said that Speaker of the National Assembly Sardar Ayaz Sadiq emphasised that NAB’s role in eradication of corruption was quite important.

The NAB chairman said that the bureau was committed to eradicating corruption by adopting a Zero Tolerance Policy across the board.

“According to 2015 report of Transparency International, Corruption Perception Index (CPI) of Pakistan has decreased from 126 to 117 which is a great achievement for Pakistan,” he said.

The NAB’s report-2015 said that of 1,777 inquiries initiated by the bureau, 1,114 had been completed during 2015.

Mr Chaudhry said that of 731 investigations, NAB had completed 402 and filed 397 corruption references in respective accountability courts across the country.

Published in Dawn, May 4th, 2016