600 corruption references filed in NAB courts: chairman

ISLAMABAD: The National Accountability Bureau chairman Justice (retd) Javed Iqbal has detailed that 600 corruption references were filed during the last 22 months, ARY News reported on Sunday.

Javed Iqbal, while talking to media, said that the anti-corruption watchdog has prioritised conclusive end of the mega corruption cases in order to eliminate financial irregularities across the country.

He said that the approximate ratio of penalising corrupt elements from the courts stands at 70 per cent while NAB is following the policy of reviewing the genre of the cases but not its fees.

“Rs71 billion has been submitted to the national exchequer which was recovered during the last 22 months and further steps are being adopted to uproot corruption. The institution has recovered billions of rupees from the illegal housing societies and returned to the affected people.”

“I have ordered director-generals to make early arrests of proclaimed offenders. At least 1,210 corruption references are under hearing in the accountability courts. We have now decided to submit pleas for early hearings of the pending cases,” Iqbal said.

Earlier on August 29, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) chairman had said the anti-graft watchdog had recovered over Rs71 billion from the corrupt elements during the last 20 months.

Chairing a meeting at NAB Lahore office, Javed Iqbal said that the money revered from the plunderers had been submitted in the national exchequer.

Hailing the performance of NAB Lahore bureau, Javed Iqbal said that all resources were being utilized to eliminate corruption in the country. On the occasion, he reiterated that taking mega corruption cases to their logical end was NAB’s top priority.