NAB has ‘perfected’ procedures to yield excellent results in graft cases, says chairman – Pakistan

The president of the National Responsibility Office (retd), Judge Javed Iqbal, on his first detailed visit to the office of the Karachi office on Wednesday, said the anti-graft agency had "perfected" its procedures because it They were making "excellent dividends" in eradicating corruption.

The president of the NAB said on that occasion that the office is committed to ending "absolute" cases of megacorruption, so he said that a policy of "responsibility for all" had been adopted.

"NAB has devised an effective anti-corruption strategy for the eradication of corruption that has begun to generate excellent dividends," said the head of the anti-graft agency.

He added that NAB had been rejuvenated after taking "new initiatives."

"In order to rationalize the workload, timetables have been prescribed for the efficient, effective and expedited elimination of cases with a maximum limit of 10 months from the verification of the complaint, the investigation, the investigation and, finally, a reference in the court of responsibility ".

Judge Iqbal said that to ensure uniformity and standardization, SOPs (standard operating procedures) for investigative officers (IO) were reviewed and reviewed after a 10-year gap. "To benefit from the experience and collective wisdom of senior supervisory officers, a CIT (combined research team) system has been established consisting of a director, an additional director, an IO and a senior legal advisor," said.

"It is not only about providing quality work, but also ensuring that no individual can influence the procedures," said the head of the NAB.

Perspective The | More of the same: Javed Iqbal

The head of NAB thanked the performance of NAB Karachi.

Separately, it also distributed checks / letters of possession of frames to those affected by the Rufi Builders case.

Sources within the office said there were at least 1,100 people affected by the "Global Rufi City" case and it was considered that this was one of NAB Karachi's notable performances that affected people had conspiracy and check possession letters .

Informative meeting on high profile cases

The president of the NAB, at a meeting, received information on perceived high-profile cases, such as against the speaker of the Sindh Assembly, according to officials and office sources.

The sources said that the main focus of the meeting was in cases related to political figures and the necessary instructions were issued for this purpose.

According to an official statement issued after the meeting, Director General NAB Karachi (retired) Brig Farooq Naser Awan, in his briefing, noted that since October 11, 2018, the anti-graft body in Karachi had submitted corruption references against former federal minister, Dr. Asim; provincial legislator, Sharjeel Memon; The speaker of the Sindh Assembly, Agha Siraj Durrani; and former federal minister, Kamran Michael; all of whom were under trial before the courts concerned.

Sources counted Dawn that the murder case of TV host Mureed Abbas about a "financial dispute" in Defense was also debated while NAB was investigating its financial aspect at the request of law enforcement authorities.

The case against the LNG tycoon arrested Iqbal Z Ahmed was also deliberate, the sources added. Both cases are still under investigation.

The sources said that the president of NAB also held a separate meeting with experts on the case against Ahmed, since so far no "concrete evidence" has emerged against him.

Karachi office operations

Meanwhile, according to a statement by the NAB, DG NAB Karachi informed the participants of the meeting that they received 9,887 complaints in the year 2018-19 and of them, 346 complaints were completed / removed to date.

NAB Karachi has also authorized 93 complaints during it, the statement said.

"NAB Karachi submitted 65 corruption references in 2018-19, while 28 references are ready for submission after the approval of President NAB," according to the statement.

It was claimed that 159 accused persons were arrested by NAB Karachi during 2019. In addition, NAB Karachi also helped other regional offices in the arrest of 32 defendants.

Brig Awan revealed that around Rs730 million were received in 2017-18 and Rs3,423 million in 2018-19 through a plea agreement after the approval of the courts involved in the city.

"The overall conviction rate of NAB Karachi in the respected courts of responsibility is about 84 percent," said DG NAB.

Officers prevented from issuing complaints

Before the president's arrival, employees were "discouraged" from conveying their work-related complaints, office sources said.

The sources said that the investigation officers (IO), considered as the backbone of the Office, were "discouraged" to raise issues related to the perceived weak prosecution, the "damaged" building, the poor infrastructure, the lack of facilities, vehicles and personnel shortages.

"There is a gap or a complete gap between the NAB leadership and the organization's spine (IO)," said an official who declined to be identified.

The sources said that, since this was the first detailed visit by the NAB president to Karachi, the IOs hoped they would be allowed to raise such weak prosecution problems, etc., but were "discouraged."

They said that a few months ago, DPG (Deputy Attorney General) of NAB Karachi, who can present cases before the trial court, was dismissed for his alleged unsatisfactory performance and was not granted another contract. Since then, DPG has not been appointed in Karachi.

They also said that the Nab IOs frequently faced "shame" for the weak prosecution of cases before the Sindh High Court, which tended to summon the PGA (general prosecutor's responsibility) of Islamabad.

They added that the current NAB office in Karachi was located in an "old" building where officers do not have enough place to keep their records.