Lahore; NAB is in unusual focus throughout the past couple of years. And for all the wrong reasons, rather wrongful reasons. With unfathomable deficits in terms of legitimacy , impartiality and credibility. Even the balance sheet in terms of viability is not really a rosy one. With the said deficit stemming out of the same page’ mantra, it is not surprising why PTI government is reported to have sought an unlimited extension to NAB chairman service term under NAB Act amendment proposal moved by Imran Khan regime during purported and attempted parliamentary consensus last week. What a turn of events that Nawaz Sharif’s brainchild Ehtasab Bureau (formed in 1997) turned out to be demises in last twenty years.. It is not only him, but a few dozens of other accredited Pakistani politicians who were publically drum beaten in the last four years. Contradictions rule the country where a sitting chairman of top watchdog; goes spot free after flitering with the wife of a cheap fraudster, while wife of a highly reputed judge of the apex court is forced to make rounds in courts and FBR to prove her and by implication her husband’s innocence in tax reporting. Personalities besides, lets analysis actual performance of NAB as an institution and top watchdog of corruption in Pakistan, based on their own facts and figures reported time to time. NAB had been reportedly active on low level bureaucracy and some scams of housing societies, but its main flash points has been political arrests as acknowledged by Human Rights Watch latest report, which alleged NAB of “Political Engineering” and recent shunting by SCP, which called it inept and unprofessional.
In 2019, only 1663 cases of the total 53643 complaints (a mere 3 %) were taken-up as formal inquiries and investigations. Out of these, a net reported recovery of Rs 3.96 billion was made in the shape of Plea Bargains and Voluntary Returns in this year.
If we deduct 33 percent commissions, which NAB charges as lawful commission for any Voluntary Returns or Plea Bargains , from total recoveries that leaves net recoveries as Rs 2.65 billion (26 % from agreed plea bargains) in 2019.
As a prize, Rs 1.30 billion or Rs 130 crores were retained by NAB as recovery commissions/ incentives in 2019, how this money was distributed among NAB officials is not clear though. No government department, (not even FBR) gets a 33 percent commission/ incentives on its performance other than NAB.
Out of these, Rs 2.65 billion net recoveries, NAB claims to have returned Rs 1.58 billion to federal and provincial governments in 2019. What happened to remaining Rs 1.07 billion is anybody’s guess. Similarly NAB graduated only 3 % of the total reported complaints of corruption to the inquiry stage in 2018 and recovered only 39 % of agreed plea bargain undertakings. The fate of remaining 61 % of Plea Bargain amount remains utterly unknown. Now compare this with the total and actual NAB operational expenditures of Rs 3.99 billion in 2018-19. This clearly shows what NAB with a total 420 gazetted officers of grade 16 and above and trumpeted watch dog of corruption in Pakistan, could actually deliver. The true feather in NAB cap remain those flashy high profile political cases in which three former presidents , six prime ministers and 84 senior politicians are being grilled, with zero result when it comes to proving their cases or financial recoveries. The NAB reportedly claims to have achieved Rs 122 billion worth collection in the form of indirect recoveries (which is normally in the form of surrendering personal assets/properties/ plots etc). However, the same NAB reports that it surrendered Rs 186 million to KP government and another Rs 80 million to affected buyers to scam housing schemes in Multan. Now that makes a paltry sum of Rs 266 million out of Rs 122 billion indirect recoveries. Has the federal government asked as to who benefited from the remaining Rs 121 billion in the claimed indirect recoveries.
There were Rs 110 billion willful bank defaults reported to NAB by State Bank and private banks in 2000-2003 and NAB recovered Rs 10.7 billion less than 10 % of total recoverable sum.. From 2004 onwards, brakes were effectively applied to this segment. As a result only , only TWO willful default cases were convicted in 2019. Another major area of recovery in the NAB ambit is “Assets Beyond Means”. This is generally activated against the politicians . In this segment, countrywide, the NAB only reported THREE individuals throughout the year 2019. Can anyone guess the actual performance of NAB in combatting corruption in Pakistan?. In a country of Rs 47,712 billion GDP in 2020, NAB could gather just Rs 3.86 billion in corruption recoveries. That is 0.00008 % established corruption in Pakistan going by NAB performance. For this spectacular performance in weeding corruption out of Pakistan, NAB got its budget increased Rs 73 million in 2000 to Rs 4424 million in 2019. This is whooping 60 times increase in last 20 years. During PTI government’s two years, NAB budget was further enhance by 73 %. Not surprisingly at all, NAB has as a matter of practice, allowed some sacred cows to graze through Pakistan unchecked. To top it all , the PTI government has given the federal minister’s status overlooking NAB’s affairs to someone who was serving NAB lawyers panel on a much lower grade in 2007. That wizard in Imran Khan’s view is Mirza Shahzad Akbar, tasked with ending with ending white collar corruption from Pakistan. What a jewel’s Research searched. God Bless Pakistan. Apart from such dismal performance when it comes to delivery of results, it’s the chairman, who in the words of Justice Qazi Faiz Essa “ Is no more a sitting judge and quite surmountable by Law”, hardly skips an opportunity to widen the existing legitimacy and credibility gap overshadowing this constitutional institution. Javed Iqbal refuses to acknowledge himself as retired as per NAB official website where he addresses himself as Justice Javed Iqbal. Perhaps he is not in retired mindset as yet. Also there had been some audio and video leaks where javed Iqbal is proven to be a perverted sexist who apparently was luring a middle age house wife whose husband was in NAB custody for some shady case. Is this how you treat the wife of an accused as a chairman of the accountability institution?. Remind me of a tongue twister, I come across somewhere in my childhood which goes like Who takes care of caretaker’s daughter when the caretaker is busy in taking care? When I come to think of to answer to this; the mind is as blank as this performance report.
The writer is an APNS awarded investigative journalist