ISLAMABAD: National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Chairman Qamar Zaman Chaudhry has said that his bureau is committed to making Pakistan corruption-free, as eradication of corruption is a national duty.
He said this after representing Pakistan in the International Conference on Anti-Corruption at Vienna, Austria.
He said that Pakistan was considered a role model in SAARC due to its effective anti-corruption strategy. He said that during the tenure of the present management of NAB, the bureau had perfected its procedures after taking various new initiatives that had started yielding excellent results. “We can say that today NAB has rejuvenated itself in Pakistan to eradicate corruption from the country.”
He said that NAB officers were working with dedication, professionalism and transparently in an atmosphere of renewed energy and dynamism, where fight against corruption was being taken as a national duty.
He said that Pakistan’s apex anti-corruption agency was the only organisation in the world that had signed an MoU with China in order to streamline cooperation in the field of anti-corruption and oversee projects to be undertaken under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CEPC) in Pakistan.
Qamar Zaman Chaudhry said that corruption was the root cause of all evils. “NAB is committed to eradicating corruption by using all its resources. The NAB has adopted zero tolerance policy across the board, as corruption is one of the major hurdles in the progress and prosperity of Pakistan, which subside merit and deprive deserving persons of their due right.”
He said that corruption was not only an obstacle in the way to economic development but also caused delays in development projects because money made from corruption and corrupt practices concentrates in a few hands.
He said NAB’s ‘Awareness and Prevention Campaign’, which remained very successful, was appreciated by all participants and NAB’s message “Say No To Corruption” across the country was being carried on all ATM machines of all banks across the country.
The NAB and the Higher Education Commission (HEC) had signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for creating awareness amongst students of various universities, he said. “Due to this collaboration, 45,000 ‘character building societies’ have been established at various universities/colleges and schools across the country. Similarly, Pakistan Television (PTV), SNGPL, Islamabad Traffic Police, IESCO, LESCO, GEPCO and FESCO have decided to join hands with NAB in order to disseminate awareness about the ill effects of corruption.”
He added that the Pakistan Post has specially designed and formally issued a commemorative stamp with a slogan “Say No To Corruption” to mark the World Anti-Corruption Day. In addition to that, the NAB in collaboration with the PTA had disseminated NAB message “Say No To Corruption” to all mobile phone subscribers across the country through different mobile phone companies on the eve of World Anti-Corruption Day in order to spread awareness about the ill effects of corruption, he said.
The chairman said that NAB’s video message was being aired in all cinema houses of the country. “NAB’s Awareness and Prevention Campaign has been appreciated by the public at large.”
He said that beside NAB’s awareness campaign, the bureau had constituted prevention committees in order to identify loopholes, suggest ways and means to plug loopholes and measures for improvement/strengthening regulatory mechanism of federal and provincial governments for transparency, meritocracy, fair play and compliance with relevant laws/rules. “The NAB has constituted prevention committees on Capital Development Authority (CDA), Ministry of Religious Affairs, Agriculture and National Food Security, National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination, Prevention Committee on FBR, Prevention Committee on Press Information Department (PID) and prevention committees in provinces relating to health, education, revenue and housing, cooperatives, etc.”
He said that NAB’s Prevention Committee on Ministry of Religious Affairs had forwarded its recommendations to the Ministry of Religious Affairs, which were considered by the ministry very aggressively in order to provide better facilities to Hajj pilgrims and to address their problems. “Due to this reason, arrangements made by the Ministry of Religious Affairs during 2016 were appreciated by all pilgrims.”
He urged all regional bureaus of the bureau to constitute prevention committees in different departments in consultation with the departments concerned so that NAB may identify/suggest ways and means to plug loopholes and measures for improvement/strengthening regulatory mechanism of the federal and provincial governments.
Published in Daily Times, August 27th 2017.
