ISLAMABAD - National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Chairman Justice (r) Javed Iqbal has claimed that the NAB has solid evidence against big fish in the cases related to money laundering, fake accounts, misuse of authority, assets beyond known sources and cheating the public. He said that the NAB had filed 1,269 corruption cases having an accumulative value of Rs950 billion which were sub judice in the learned accountability courts.

The NAB chairman said that the NAB during 2020 had recovered Rs321.4829 billion from corrupt elements which was a record achievement in a year, adding that it showed a commitment and dedication of the NAB officers towards national responsibilities in eradicating corruption from the country.

He said that the NAB had received 487,964 complaints and authorised 15,930 complaint verifications, 10,041 inquiries and 4,598 investigations since its inception. “As many as 3,682 references were also filed, and the NAB also recovered Rs790 billion from corrupt elements during the period.” He said that the NAB was a people friendly institution, adding that the performance of the NAB had been lauded by reputed national and international institutions.

He said that the NAB had become a role model for Saarc countries to eradicate corruption, enabling Pakistan to become the first chairman of Saarc Anti-Corruption Forum which was a great achievement. “The NAB is the focal organisation of Pakistan under the United National convention against Corruption (UNCAC). Pakistan is the only country to whom China has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for eradication of corruption. Pakistan and China are jointly working for ensuring transparency in China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) projects.”

He said that the NAB had its headquarters in Islamabad, adding that the regional bureaus were located in Rawalpindi, Lahore, Karachi, Quetta, KPK, Multan, Sukkur and a sub-office in Gilgit Baltistan. “Today, the NAB has been rejuvenated in order to eradicate corruption from Pakistan. The performance of NAB in the areas of monitoring and system evaluation is being reviewed on a regular basis. The NAB has proved that its actions against corrupt elements are across the board as it does not believe in victimisation. The prestige and repute of the NAB has increased manifold due to its indiscriminate and visible action against the big fish.”