NAB's job is to catch corruption, not fix institutions: Shahzad Akbar

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan's special assistant on accountability, Shahzad Akbar, said Sunday the National Accountability Bureau's (NAB) job was to catch corruption, not improve Pakistan's institutions.

Addressing a press conference here in the federal capital, Akbar said his motive to hold a briefing was to speak about the NAB Amendment Ordinance, 2019, which was approved by the federal cabinet and President Dr Arif Alvi on Friday.

He said there was a lot of talk on the issue and, therefore, clarification was necessary. Implementation of prior wishes to amend the NAB's laws failed because they were ill-intentioned; however, the "amendments we made are in front of everyone", he added.

Read more: Cabinet approves NAB Amendment Ordinance 2019

The amendment would be presented to the parliament and anyone wishing to improve it was welcome, the special assistant noted. Nonetheless, if anyone desired personal gain, they would not get it in the incumbent government, he said.

Akbar said the country's economy had left the intensive care unit (ICU) and was on a path to betterment. "We have now started to move towards progress, the institutions are being improved by strengthening them," he added.

He noted that alongside the economic restoration, it was evident that the institutions' reputation was also being rebuilt.

Also read: PPP says NAB ordinance 'mother of all NROs'

"It's being said the bureaucracy is being given some leeway; that includes politicians and bureaucracy both. There is also a misconception that NAB cannot go above or below a particular account," he said.

Underlining that a curse of corruption had spread in the society, the special assistant said strict legislation was required to fix it. Those who engaged in corruption or benefited from kickbacks should be given strict punishment, he added.

"If someone's case came to the NAB just because they made some decision, then that was uncalled for," he stated, adding, however, that the anti-graft watchdog did not deal with tax-related issues but that that was the Federal Board of Revenue's (FBR) job.

Related: Fawad Chaudhry calls for FIA-NAB merger

"Are tax matters a corruption issue? It's not like someone is being given any tax-related leeway with the passing of these laws. Those matters will be overseen by the relevant institutions."

Akbar clarified that the NAB's laws would not be applicable to anyone who had no links to holders of any public offices. Its "job is to catch corruption, not fix institutions", he said.

Read more: Government tried to clip NAB's wings, says Siraj-ul-Haq

"The defects in methodology isn't the NAB's authority; for that, departmental action is required. The NAB will deal wherever there's corruption but whenever there's a fault in methodology, the relevant institution will deal with it by themselves.

"There won't be any action on just a suggestion or advice until and unless there's a proven benefit to it," he noted.

Referring to the so-called 'Abu Bachao campaign', he said there could not be any cooperation for it, that much had been made clear. "Accountability is the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf's (PTI) slogan and, so, we cannot step back from it."

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