ISLAMABAD: Qamar Zaman Chaudhry, Chairman National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has said that it is Pakistan's apex anti-corruption organization which was established in 1999 with the mandate to eliminate corruption and to recover looted money from corrupts and deposit in national exchequer.
The present management of NAB after due deliberations, devised an effective Enforcement Strategy in order to nab corrupts across the board by adopting zero tolerance policy, said a press release here Sunday.
He said that salient features of NAB's Enforcement Strategy are that NAB is a complaint driven organization and NAB operations start functioning on receipt of a written complaint about an alleged act of corruption & corrupt practices as defined under section 9 of NAO.
The process initiated with verification of the contents of the complaint received and the applicability of the provisions of law.
This process is called Complaint Verification (CV) wherein the complainant is called for confirming the evidence available with him and submit affidavit.
Once it is determined that the alleged offence falls under NAO and available material justifies for further process, the same is processed for subsequent action.
In the second step, inquiry under section 18 of the NAO is authorized to confirm the committal of offence and collection of evidence to identify the alleged person(s) involved.
The record / evidence collection process is supplemented with recording of statements of witnesses and accused persons. During inquiry, the whole process is completed after due deliberations at inquiry level by giving consideration to the role of Combined Investigation Teams (CITs) and in the Regional Executive Board Meetings (RBMs).
NAB's present management has devised to rationalize workload of NAB and timelines have been prescribed for efficient, effective and expeditious disposal of cases putting a maximum limit of 10 months from complaint verification-to-inquiry-to-investigation and finally to a reference in the Accountability Court.
In order to ensure uniformity and standardization, the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) of NAB for investigation officers (IOs) in vogue were reviewed and revised after a gap of 10 years in order to benefit from the experience and collective wisdom of senior supervisory officers, a system of Combined Investigation Team comprising of Director, Additional Director, Investigation Officer and a Senior Legal Counsel has been put in place.
The implementation of enforcement Strategy is being monitored in NAB through daily, weekly, monthly reports and annual inspections.
Once a criminal case is established and the accused is unable to return the ill gotten / pecuniary resources, inquiry is converted into investigation under section 18 (C) of NAO to finalize the collection of evidence for filing of reference / Challan in the respective Accountability Court and to prosecute him with the objective of conviction and confiscation of proceeds of crime.
During the investigation, the accused is provided opportunity to confront with the evidence collected. The accused has the option of Plea Bargain (PB) at this stage under section 25-B of NAO to return the illegal gain to avoid trials and imprisonment. In any case, the disposal of this stage is referred to the Court for final approval.
The Enforcement Strategy of NAB starts with initiative of fact finding without blaming any person for an alleged act of corruption. The process moves with simple explanations from the complainant to clarify the charges against accused and to confirm his position with material evidence if any. On the other hand during inquiry, the collection of evidence viz.a.viz the allegations are verified with the explanations given by the accused person and statements recorded from the witnesses.
If the stated version of accused is found implausible, the matter moves for option of accepting guilt and offering for voluntary return of assets or gain acquired as a consequence of an offence committed under NAO.
Failing at this stage and with the availability of cogent evidence, the investigation proceedings may causes arrest of the accused and with the option of Plea Bargain, carrying disqualification to hold public office or to obtain financial facility from banks. The Plea Bargain (PB) come under 25-B of National Accountability Ordinance, NAO.
The tougher stage approached when after finalization of investigation the trial proceedings initiated and the accused persons are facing for charges of corruption and corrupt practices framed by the respective Accountability Court and where possible conviction which may extend to fourteen years Regress Imprisonment (RI) with fine and or confiscation of assets and properties in the name of accused or his family members.
This stage has multiple consequences both for the accused and his family. The disgracing life among the fellow members of the society may be one of the consequences beside economic constraints in participation of activities.
The operational arms of NAB are its Regional Bureaus which involved in field operations i.e. conduct of CVs, inquiries, investigations, prosecution of cases at trial and appellate stages. The Operations Division and Prosecution Division at NAB Headquarter are providing all supports for smooth conduct of Enforcement activities in accordance with law and the Standing Operating Procedures (SOPs).
The Chairman NAB said that we have delegated some of the operational powers of the NAO to the Regional Directors General for prompt utilization of these powers and to achieve the objective of eradication of corruption from the country.
The Enforcement Strategy and the SOPs are the guiding principles of operational methodology which provide for effective monitoring and accountability within the organization.
The operational decision making is passing through a consultative process, called the Executive Board Meetings (EBMs), chaired by the Chairman, PGA and participated by the senior officers at NAB Headquarter and the NAB Regional Bureaus via video links.
He said that NAB's Effective Enforcement Strategy yielding dividend as it is an effective tool of curbing white collar crimes and led to recovery of proceeds of crime of worth Rs. 287 billion since its inception. Due to NAB's Enforcement Strategy, the overall conviction ratio is of 76 percent.
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