KARACHI: Sindh Governor Imran Ismail on Wednesday said that disbanding the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) was a popular demand of corrupt elements to escape accountability and expressed confidence that NAB would achieve the goal of recovering the plundered money from declared culprits.
He was speaking as the chief guest at a seminar titled ‘Corruption-free Society, a Progressive Society’, held in connection with International Anti-Corruption Day hosted by NAB Karachi at the Governor House.
He said rallies and public gatherings were being organised without taking care of Covid-19 standard operating procedures, and the most popular demand of those organising these events was to abolish NAB.
“NAB is responsible to recover the looted money and it will hopefully accomplish this task,” he added.
Seminar held to mark International Anti-Corruption Day
The governor said that NAB “is in good and competent hands at the moment and working independently”.
He said Prime Minister Imran Khan had repeatedly said that he could quit the government, but would not compromise on accountability. “The PTI government is committed to taking indiscriminate action against the corrupt practices and elements,” he added.
The governor said that there was always room for improvement in any organisation and institution because this was a continuous process of evolution and the same was the case with organisations such as NAB. “If we further improve and strengthen NAB, nobody can hinder the process of progress and prosperity of Pakistan.”
NAB Karachi’s efforts highlighted
In his welcome address, Director General of NAB Karachi Dr Najaf Quli Mirza highlighted the importance of awareness and prevention regime in raising awareness against corruption.
Dr Mirza said the NAB Karachi had geared up its operations against corruption and had been performing “exceptionally well”.
He said that at present NAB Karachi was investigating mega cases involving billions of rupees. “Under the leadership of NAB Chairman retired Justice Javed Iqbal, the NAB Karachi has remained successful in achieving the confidence of the public at large,” he added.
Dr Mirza said that since its inception in 2000, NAB Karachi had received more than 84,000 complaints, of which 2,150 inquiries and 1,176 investigations were authorised. He said 881 references had been filed where the conviction rate was very high.
He said Rs14.779 billion had been recovered from accused persons and deposited in the national exchequer.
Highlighting NAB Karachi’s performance for 2020, he said that during the current year it received and disposed of over 6,000 complaints, completed 158 complaint verifications, 31 inquiries and 23 investigations. Moreover, 66 accused persons were arrested and 29 references filed in the accountability courts at Karachi and Hyderabad, he said.
On the recoveries side, he said the bureau had made direct recoveries of over Rs1.893bn in 2020. Similarly, a benefit of indirect recovery of over Rs16bn is being passed on to more than 5,700 affected persons of Fazaia Housing Scheme, Karachi, he added. Besides, due to timely intervention by NAB Karachi, precious government land was retrieved by the government of Sindh, he added.
He further stated that NAB Karachi conducted public hearings and received complaints on every last Thursday of each month.
Speaking on the occasion, head of the Saylani Welfare Trust (SWT) Maulana Bashir Farooqui said the day would come when “we all will see a prosperous Pakistan”.
Highlighting services of the SWT, he said with over 4,000 staffers, the trust extended services from Torkham to Karachi with zero corruption due to its strict and transparent system.
He said that around 100,000 students were being imparted information technology training under the SWT, who would significantly contribute to the development of the country.
FPCCI president Mian Anjum Nisar and former chief of the Citizens-Police Liaison Committee Jameel Yousuf in their speeches appreciated NAB’s efforts in curbing corruption.
Governor Ismail with the DG NAB Karachi also presented merit certificates to officials of NAB Karachi on their “outstanding performance” in 2020.
Certificates and cash prizes were also presented to the winners of different schools in the declamation contests.
They also gave away cheques for Rs222.817 million to the representatives of federal and provincial government departments and affected persons of various scams.
Notables from various walks of life, including senior officials, academia, civil society, and students of speech contests attended the seminar.
Published in Dawn, December 10th, 2020