NAB to promote good governance initiatives Business Recorder

ISLAMABAD: Deputy Chairman National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Rear Admiral (Retd) Saeed Ahmed Sargana has said that NAB would continue to play its role in good governance initiatives. While addressing the convocation ceremony of newly inducted 268 NAB officers, he said it is a prevalent impression that in the absence of a sitting chairman, the NAB and its all officers are sitting idle. He said, "This impression is incorrect. There is no doubt that the National Accountability Ordinance (NAO) empowers only the chairman to take cognizance of fresh cases and initiate actions against the accused(s)" He said the NAB is vigorously pursuing all cases started by the previous chairman. He added that NAB for the last few years was working on almost 50 per cent of its sanctioned workforce, adding despite limitation of manpower and resources NAB has achieved positive results. During the year 2012, NAB has received 9,353 complaints, it authorized 978 inquiries out of which 327 have been finalized, 65 converted into References while 586 are under process. Out of 397 cases pending investigation, 68 have been finalized through Voluntary Return or Plea Bargain, another 17 were closed due to non-availability of prosecutable evidence, 62 converted into References while 232 are under process. NAB is conducting prosecution of 599 References. It has succeeded in recovering Rs.25 billions through voluntary Return and Plea Bargain. He said that NAB was established with a declared mission to rid the country of the curse of corruption. In the role of a premier Anti-Corruption Agency NAB launched a three pronged strategy based on the principles of Awareness, Prevention and Enforcement. Dy Chairman said that in a major initiative, taken during the last year NAB inducted 268 officers most of them in BPS-16 and a few higher grades to fill vacancies through a merit - based transparent recruitment process which enabled us to get the best possible people to work as Investigation Officers. They underwent seven months rigorous Training Course conducted by local as well as foreign faculty. This training was arranged at COMSATS where state of the art training facilities were made available and renowned professionals were invited to deliver interactive lectures on specialized subjects. He assured that these young officers will be groomed into dedicated professionals. They will not only bring about a positive change in the Work Culture of the Bureau but also achieve discernable improvement in overall performance of NAB.