ISLAMABAD: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) issued on Friday its performance report for 2014 which said the bureau recovered Rs4.5 billion last year, bringing the total recoveries made by it since its inception in 1999 to Rs264.4bn.

A NAB spokesman said Rs11.8bn had been spent on the bureau in the last 15 years, adding that the amount was only 4.4 per cent of the total recoveries made by it.

The number of applications received by the bureau in 2014 was 40,077, almost twice the number of applications received in the previous year, he said.

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“The increase in the number of applications indicates the people’s growing confidence in our work,” said the spokesman. “The litmus test of efficiency and effectiveness of NAB’s efforts is the number of cases processed by it.”

NAB completed 585 inquiries in 2014 as compared to 243 in the previous year. Similarly, 188 investigations were concluded in 2014 against 129 in 2013.

The bureau filed a total of 208 references last year as compared to 135 in 2013 and the rate of success of its prosecution work in all courts was 70 per cent, according to the spokesman.

The recent reports of the Transparency International showed that Pakistan had moved from 175th place in the Corruption Perception Index to the 126th spot.

After investigating the multi-billion Modaraba scandal (one of the biggest in NAB’s history), the bureau filed six references and recovered Rs1.73bn besides properties and vehicles from the 32 accused who were arrested last year.

In the Rs22bn Rental Power Project scam, the bureau filed eight references in accountability courts.

The spokesman said that in an effort to expedite disposal of cases, NAB Chairman Qamar Zaman Chaudhry introduced a new policy under which all work from complaint verification to filing of reference in accountability court must be completed within 10 months.

The bureau, he said, also came up with a new concept called “Combined Investigation Team” which had improved the quality of investigations as well as the professional capacity of investigation officers (IOs).

NAB also decided to give priority to corruption cases --- normal cases involving between Rs100 million and Rs200m, complex cases (Rs500m to 1bn) and mega cases of Rs1bn or more.

The report said that NAB had informed the law and justice ministry that the Whistleblower Protection Act was imperative for the country because under the United Nations Convention Against Corruption legislation on whistle blowing was an obligation.

It said that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had approved the Whistleblower Protection Bill which was sent to the cabinet division so that it might be tabled before the cabinet for further action.

The bureau also recruited 110 IOs last year after they were trained at the Police Training College, Sihala, on modern lines.

The organisation also set up a Forensic Science Lab at the offices of NAB Rawalpindi. It planned to set up an Anti-Corruption Academy in Islamabad for capacity building of NAB officials like the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Academy.

Published in Dawn, October 31st, 2015

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