No accountability in the Bureau

Islamabad: When it comes to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) nothing is concrete from prosecution to conviction.The accountability bureau, does however, know how to flaunt its controversial performance, and that too with different shades of narration. According to the anti-graft watchdog, from the time of its inception up to September of this year, it has recovered as much as Rs821 billion.

Meanwhile, Additional Secretary Budget Tanveer Butt stated before the Senate Standing Committee on Finance on November 4, that only Rs6.5 billion have been by the NAB in the national exchequer, during this same period of time.

Evidently, the difference between the two sums is very large. It require a huge amount of money to bridge the mammoth gap between the recovered amount and the amount which has been deposited in the federal reserves. Interestingly, while responding to a question asked by lawmaker during a National Assembly session, the NAB has maintained that a total of Rs519.335 billion were recovered by it since the appointment of current NAB Chairman Justice Javed Iqbal. “A total sum of Rs502.231 billion has been transferred to the respective government entities, beneficiaries and affectees of various scams,” the NAB claimed. It further maintained that the recovered amount is not being utilised by the NAB and the responsibility of utilising this money rests with the government and relevant beneficiaries. Member of the National Assembly Jam Abdul Karim Bijar had inquired from the NAB about the details of the recovered amount during the appointment of the current chairman.

Simply put, according to the figures presented by the watchdog, around 61 per cent of the total recovered amount by the NAB was recovered during the term of the incumbent NAB chairman. By any standard, this is a phenomenal ratio of recoveries which must be  applauded. However, things look gloomy in terms of the sums which have been deposited in the national exchequer, as according to the claims made by Additional Secretary Budget, only 0.79 per cent of the recovered amount has been deposited. According to Tanveer Butt out of the Rs6.5 billion he claims were submitted by the NAB, a mere Rs1.4 billion, which amounts to 21.5 per cent of the total recoveries were made during the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s government.

When approached by Bol News on the issue a spokesperson for the NAB shared a chart detailing the Bureau’s recoveries made under the leadership of various chairpersons. According to this chart, the NAB made direct or indirect recoveries until September 2021 to the tune of Rs821.573 billion since its inception. The memo further details that recoveries were made in the form of land and properties, in some cases, and that a sum of Rs500.65 billon has already been handed over to the quarters concerned directly, as owners, claimants and entities, among others.

When broached about the claims made by the Additional Secretary Budget, the spokesperson stated that, “it does not fall under my preview. I am sending you the details regarding how many recoveries were made by the NAB and these videos and other content will give you a fair idea regarding where these recoveries were deposited.” The spokesperson then proceeded to share videos and articles where citizens were lauding the NAB for retrieving their money which had been taken from them fraudulently.

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