Eradication of corruption top priority of NAB: Javed Iqbal

F.P. Report

ISLAMABAD: National Accountability Bureau (NAB) chairman retired Justice Javed Iqbal on Tuesday reiterated that the elimination of corruption is the top priority of the institution.

“I believe in bringing absconders and fugitives to justice. NAB has adopted the anti-corruption policy. We received more complaints in 2018 than 2017,” he declared.

Javed Iqbal told that at least 50,000 associations have been created in educational institutions for character building.

“Schools, colleges and universities will be informed of the effects of corruption,” said NAB chairman.

NAB is investigating cases pertaining to housing societies, bank fraud, money laundering and embezzlement in government funds.

Earlier, the NAB chairman asserted that bringing the white-collar crimes, related to mega corruption scandals, to a logical conclusion has been the highest priority of the department.

While presiding over a consultative meeting at the NAB’s headquarters, he stated that the menace of corruption has corroded the state like a termite.

He stated that 59 percent people trust the NAB and quoted these statistics based on a Gilani Research Foundation Survey carried out by Gallup and Gilani Pakistan.

He further quoted the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) index on corruption, and said that Pakistan has been ranked 107th.

“We are formulating effective policies to curb money laundering,” he said, adding that initiatives would be taken on the priority basis to recover the looted wealth which had been transferred through money laundering to foreign banks.

He maintained that all investigation into the corruption cases would be based on the Constitution of Pakistan, and that currently there are 1,210 references, which involve Rs900 billion, filed by the NAB in corruption cases in accountability courts.