MUST READ PRESS RELEASES Date: 17-May-2013 Title: NAB received 7,565 complaints, completed 392 inquiries, filed 95 references, Recovered Rs 25 Billion: Says Bureau’s Annual Report ISLAMABAD, May 17, 2013: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) released its annual report 2012 - a watershed year in the history of the bureau. The report says, on the enforcement side of NAB activities recoveries through Voluntary Return (VR) and Plea Bargain (PB) amounted to Rs. 25 Billion. Despite constraints and deficit in Human Resource quality and quantity, mega corruption cases are being prosecuted as best possible. NAB worked with Bureaucracy for their re-structuring, strengthening of regulatory mechanism, and for removal of rule violations to prevent corruption in planned procurements and projects. Numerous committees of bureaucrats were formed in all major areas of governance to improve performance on sustainable basis. Rs 1.5 trillion worth of projects and procurements were processed to save over Rs. 200 Billion, involving planning and pre-tendering irregularities. The Bureau processed 7889 complaints, completed 392 inquiries and filed 95 references in the accountability courts. The influx of complaints increased during the year as the organization received 7,565 complaints reaching a total of 9353 complaints, including the backlog of 1788. The report further reveals that the Bureau authorized 232 fresh inquiries in 2012, raising pendency to 978 including the backlog of 746 inquiries. “A total of 392 inquiries were finalized (including closures and conversion into formal investigation), whereas, 586 inquiries remained under completion,” said the report, adding that the Bureau authorized 86 new investigations, thus reaching to a total of 379. Out of total investigation cases, 147 have been finalized while the remaining 232 are under process, said the annual report that is a statutory requirement. During the year 2012, the NAB also recommended placement of 192 accused on the Exit Control List (ECL) through the Ministry of Interior. During the year 2012, Bureau filed 95 references in the Accountability Courts, making a total of 719 cases, including 624 cases already pending in the trial courts. 2012 also saw the start of an induction and training programme of over 250 new investigators for NAB to be trained by a mix of local and foreign faculty. The annual report says that in this year the traditional emphasis on Enforcement as a primary tool gave way to Prevention as a primary tool for accountability; as is the case in most developed countries of the world. Chairman NAB Admiral Retired Fasih Bokhari in his comments says that for 65 years and through 59 different legislations ‘Enforcement’ as the primary anti-corruption tool has not worked. Pakistan’s absolute corruption index has remained unchanged at 2.5/10 since the start of Transparency International Corruption Perception Index. Pakistan’s corruption is therefore, not party, event, or form of government specific. The constant corruption index is a clear indication of major system flaws in Constitutional, Legislative, Regulatory, and Governance structure. The Prevention framework started in March 2012 is in compliance with the United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC). It is based on the internationally recognized nexus between the Bureaucratic, Political, and Private Sector interests that lead to Grand Corruption when and if they join hands to work in an exploitative framework. It is the job of agencies like NAB to not allow this collusion to happen. The separation of these three interest groups is essential to curb corrupt practices that can reach the levels of ‘mega corruption’. Restructuring of the state’s governance system and regulatory mechanisms is the key to reduction of corruption. The report says that focus on the Private Sector is not the best starting point because this is the sector that is the engine of growth. It is the function of businessmen to make maximum profit. It is the function of the state’s Regulatory mechanism to control the level of profit. In Pakistan we see that the Regulatory mechanisms are either nonexistent or have collapsed under pressure from political and business interests. Focus on the politicians by an agency such as NAB is unrealistic in the current heavily politicized environment of Pakistan. Focus on the Bureaucracy was the best starting point in the given environment. These are the regulators of the state and need to be given support and independence from political and financial pressures. The legislative and Regulatory structures of the State need to be reviewed to remove discretionary and service anomalies. The report says that in order to allow greater autonomy to Regional Bureaus and ensure speedy process of decision making, the Chairman, NAB, has delegated sufficient operational as well as administrative powers to the Director Generals of Regional Bureaus. The NAB report highlighted the role of Chairman Admiral (Retired) Fasih Bokhari who set priorities of prevention as a mechanism to precede enforcement, emergent and quick recovery of looted money, mega cases to be accorded priority and interaction through meetings with stakeholders. The report further indicates that a series of presentations by US Embassy to Senior Management of NAB and Prosecutors was organized during February and March 2012. These presentations provided an opportunity to benefit from the investigation techniques of FBI and Department of Justice used in the field of Investigation and Prosecution in intricate cases. During the preceding year, the NAB International Cooperation Wing (ICW) held number of meetings with foreign delegates to strengthen international cooperation for anti corruption as per United Nations Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC) charter and to arrange foreign trainings for NAB officials to strengthen their investigation skills and capacities. Twenty five meetings were held with the embassies of USA, UK, UAE, Switzerland, Canada, Germany, Malaysia, China, Japan, Australia and European Union. According to the annual report, the year 2013 has been titled ‘Consolidation Year’ so as to consolidate the initiatives and strategy formulated by the current Chairman NAB during the last year, with specific reference to awareness, prevention, training, development and welfare measures for employees. The annual report 2012 covers the achievements, shortfalls, statistics and way forward to eliminate corruption and corrupt practices.
Posted on: Sat, 30 Nov 2013 22:56:46 +0000