NAB claims historic recovery: Rs 8,397 billion recovered in two and a half years

ISLAMABAD: The Chairman National Accountability Bureau (NAB), Lieutenant General Retired  Nazeer Ahmed Butt, said on Tuesday that NAB showed better performance during the last two and a half years than in its entire 23-year history, ARY News reported.

Chairman NAB, Nazeer Ahmed Butt, briefed senior journalists in Islamabad, stating that NAB has recovered a whopping Rs 8,397 billion during his tenure, whereas the anti-corruption body recovered Rs 883 billion in the previous 23 years.

The NAB Chairman claimed that no other organization’s recovery rate improved more than NAB’s, adding that most of the recovery was made through the retrieval of national land.

Nazeer Ahmed Butt stated that the governments of Sindh and Balochistan extended exemplary cooperation with NAB.

The NAB adopted a mediation system with the permission of the Supreme Court, the Chairman said.

He added that NAB would offer further suggestions for NAB’s rules and regulations.

The Chairman said that the impression that NAB is a tool of political engineering has ended.

He apprised that inquiries against members of parliament, bureaucrats, and the business community are not conducted directly, adding that the Chairman Senate, Speakers of assemblies, and Chief Secretaries are contacted before the initiation of any inquiry.

He informed that respective chambers are approached before the commencement of any inquiry against the business community.

At least 2.11 lakh victims of housing societies were given amounts more than their actual losses, the NAB Chairman stated.

He said that unnecessary cases have reduced following a decline in imaginary complaints, adding that only the sale and purchase of real plots can now be conducted in the real estate sector.

He noted that it was an effort by NAB that KP’s BRT case was quashed from the international court, adding that the national exchequer saved a staggering Rs 168 billion in the BRT case.

Nazeer Butt said that money laundering is the worst face of corruption, adding that, in these cases, offshore companies and political asylum are hurdles to action.

He said that Speakers of assemblies have taken action against illegal recruitments, adding that, in plea bargains, NAB has received a higher amount than the actual due.

He said that the impression of NAB getting a part of the recovered amount is totally wrong.