ISLAMABAD: Chairman of National Accountability Bureau (NAB), Justice Javed Iqbal, has said that the anti-graft watchdog has recovered Rs150 billion (Dh3.56 billion) looted money from corrupt elements in 2019 and was working hard to nab corrupt elements across the board in order to bring them to justice. In a statement, Justice Iqbal said that the bureau received 463,845 complaints and was able to dispose of 450,546 complaints in 2019 while 13,299 were under process which will be disposed of during 2020 on merit.
He said that NAB authorised 15,056 complaint verifications in 2019 out of which 14,286 verifications were completed in 2019 with the remaining 770 verifications to be completed in 2020. NAB has authorised 9,352 inquiries while 8,493 inquiries have been completed during 2019, and 859 inquiries were under process which will be completed in 2020. Likewise, NAB had authorised 4,406 investigations in 2019 and completed 4,071 investigations and remaining 355 investigations will be completed in 2020. He said that NAB has filed 3,676 corruption references in various Accountability Courts since its inception and currently 1,275 corruption references were sub judice in 25 respected Accountability Courts of the country. Pakistan and China had inked a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for eradication of corruption. Pakistan and China would jointly work for ensuring transparency in China-Pakistan economic coordination (CPEC) projects. He said that during 2019, the initiatives taken by the present management of NAB for eradication of corruption and raising awareness among people and youth in universities and colleges about the ill effects of corruption have proved successful.
