ISLAMABAD – The chairman of National Accountability Bureau (NAB), Justice (r) Javed Iqbal on Thursday visited the anti-graft body’s Lahore bureau where he was briefed on the progress on the overall performance and ongoing inquiries into different corruption cases.
During the visit, the NAB chief oversaw the progress in the mega corruption cases, including the 56 companies scandal, Paragon City scam, Ashiana Iqbal Housing case and the Punjab Police funds scandal, according to a press release.
Javed Iqbal said NAB is pursuing a policy of “accountability for all” as a sincere effort to eradicate corruption from the country. “Strict steps are being taken for corruption free Pakistan,” he added.
The chairman of anti-corruption watchdog stated that NAB was not in favour of a media trial of any accused. In fact, he continued, the Bureau’s legal actions were victims of a media trial. Therefore, he requested the media houses to run all the news related to corruption cases and proceedings after verification by NAB spokesman while avoiding any kind of speculation.
He made it clear that the bureau “never takes action against anybody without concrete evidence.”
Reviewing the legal facilities for corruption accused inside the lockups, Justice (r) Javed Iqbal said all the detainees were being facilitated more than what is mentioned in the jail manual. Not only that, according to the NAB chairman, the Bureau has also ensured the self-respect of all the accused.
Yesterday, in a meeting presided over by the NAB chairman, it was revealed that 105 out of total 179 corruption cases had been filed in various accountability courts and were currently under trial.
The meeting at NAB headquarters in Islamabad was informed that 40 mega corruption cases had been disposed of while 15 were at the inquiry stage and 19 at the investigation level.
Last year, NAB apprehended 503 persons, besides filing 440 corruption references in different accountability courts.
A forensic lab had also been established in the federal capital to help collect evidence with the help of fingerprints, mobile data and document verification in corruption cases.
Earlier this week, according to the NAB spokesman, the Bureau’s chief agreed to meet the opposition political leaders of the country. Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, Akhtar Mengal, Naveed Qamar, Ahsan Iqbal and Asad Mehmood had requested the NAB Chairman for a meeting through a letter.
