NAB is not associated with any political party: chairman

LAHORE: Chairman National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Justice (retired) Javed Iqbal has said the bureau has no loyalties with any political party but only associated with the state of Pakistan, ARY News reported on Wednesday.

This he said while addressing the investigation officers and the prosecutors of the anti-graft body after getting briefing from DG NAB Shehzad Saleem on mega-corruption cases in Lahore.

He urged the officers to complete ongoing investigations with the help of concrete evidence without feeling any pressure.

“The accountability watchdog is striving for the corruption free Pakistan within its ambit,” Mr Iqbal said.

He said the Bureau has initiated its investigation into massive scam of fake bank accounts in the history of Pakistan and said, “Forwarding the investigation to NAB by the Supreme Court is a sign of trust over the bureau”.

Ruling out the pressure, the chairman NAB said references will be filed on merit into the scam and corrupt people will be brought to the justice.

Mr Iqbal said the NAB does not believe in torturing under trial prisoners and added that they were being provided facilities according to the jail manual.

On January 20, the Chairman NAB had said that the bureau approved 440 corruption references in a year.

As many as 503 suspects were arrested in different cases, said Iqbal in a statement. The recovery of Rs 297 billion by the accountability watchdog is a big recovery, he added.

He said the NAB received 44,315 complaints in a year. After going through all the complaints, the institution began probe on 1703 cases.