ISLAMABAD: The government’s plan to revise the national anti-corruption strategy, which was approved by Gen (retd) Pervez Musharraf’s cabinet in 2002, is in the doldrums because the post of National Accountability Bureau chairman is lying vacant, sources told Dawn on Wednesday.
The Supreme Court had recently declared the appointment of Justice (retd) Syed Deedar Hussain Shah as illegal and ordered his removal.The NAB and Transparency International, which had jointly drafted the strategy, signed a memorandum of understanding on January 13 this year to revise it.“The whole process of revision of the strategy has come to a halt because the NAB chairman, who is the only decision-making authority, is not there,” said Transparency International Pakistan chairman Adil Gilani.He said the NAB and TI had chalked out a six-month plan for the revision of the strategy keeping in view the passage of 18th and 19th Amendments and announcement of new judicial policy.“A two-week workshop of all stakeholders, who were supposed to give suggestions to improve the strategy, was to be held in Islamabad this month,” he said.Asked why it was felt that the strategy should be revised, Mr Gilani said it had to be improved because nine years had passed since its introduction.Former NAB chairman Justice (retd) Syed Deedar Hussain Shah had assured the TI of full support in its efforts to control corruption in the public and private sectors.In its annual report for 2009, the TI had claimed that corruption in Pakistan had shot up to Rs195 billion from Rs45 billion in 2006 and declared police, power and health sectors and the land department the most corrupt.Most respondents in a survey conducted by the TI were of the opinion that lack of accountability and transparency and discretionary powers were the main reasons for corruption.A spokesman for the NAB told Dawn that many of the functions of the authority had been suspended since the removal of Justice (retd) Deedar Shah.Another senior NAB official said that no further action was being taken on the improvement of the strategy.He said the basic reason for the proposed revision of the strategy was that it could not be implemented in true letter and spirit.“The strategy was to be implemented in all federal ministries to control the white-collar crime, but only a few ministries followed it,” he said.The interior ministry also tried to introduce a separate national anti-corruption strategy under the supervision of the Federal Investigation Agency after Interior Minister Rehman Malik launched an anti-corruption campaign in government departments.A meeting of the heads of anti-corruption departments was held in the interior ministry in December last year. However, Mr Malik shelved the idea when he was told that the national anti-corruption strategy was being implemented by the NAB.“But the minister asked the NAB officials to keep close coordination with the interior ministry to make the strategy more effective,” the official said.The national anti-corruption strategy approved by former president Gen (retd) Pervez Musharraf in November 2002 had empowered the NAB to check or monitor all development projects having estimated cost of Rs500 million and above.It has, however, been learnt that a direct interference and involvement of the NAB in uplift schemes under the strategy were not acceptable to the provincial governments.
The Supreme Court had recently declared the appointment of Justice (retd) Syed Deedar Hussain Shah as illegal and ordered his removal.The NAB and Transparency International, which had jointly drafted the strategy, signed a memorandum of understanding on January 13 this year to revise it.“The whole process of revision of the strategy has come to a halt because the NAB chairman, who is the only decision-making authority, is not there,” said Transparency International Pakistan chairman Adil Gilani.He said the NAB and TI had chalked out a six-month plan for the revision of the strategy keeping in view the passage of 18th and 19th Amendments and announcement of new judicial policy.“A two-week workshop of all stakeholders, who were supposed to give suggestions to improve the strategy, was to be held in Islamabad this month,” he said.Asked why it was felt that the strategy should be revised, Mr Gilani said it had to be improved because nine years had passed since its introduction.Former NAB chairman Justice (retd) Syed Deedar Hussain Shah had assured the TI of full support in its efforts to control corruption in the public and private sectors.In its annual report for 2009, the TI had claimed that corruption in Pakistan had shot up to Rs195 billion from Rs45 billion in 2006 and declared police, power and health sectors and the land department the most corrupt.Most respondents in a survey conducted by the TI were of the opinion that lack of accountability and transparency and discretionary powers were the main reasons for corruption.A spokesman for the NAB told Dawn that many of the functions of the authority had been suspended since the removal of Justice (retd) Deedar Shah.Another senior NAB official said that no further action was being taken on the improvement of the strategy.He said the basic reason for the proposed revision of the strategy was that it could not be implemented in true letter and spirit.“The strategy was to be implemented in all federal ministries to control the white-collar crime, but only a few ministries followed it,” he said.The interior ministry also tried to introduce a separate national anti-corruption strategy under the supervision of the Federal Investigation Agency after Interior Minister Rehman Malik launched an anti-corruption campaign in government departments.A meeting of the heads of anti-corruption departments was held in the interior ministry in December last year. However, Mr Malik shelved the idea when he was told that the national anti-corruption strategy was being implemented by the NAB.“But the minister asked the NAB officials to keep close coordination with the interior ministry to make the strategy more effective,” the official said.The national anti-corruption strategy approved by former president Gen (retd) Pervez Musharraf in November 2002 had empowered the NAB to check or monitor all development projects having estimated cost of Rs500 million and above.It has, however, been learnt that a direct interference and involvement of the NAB in uplift schemes under the strategy were not acceptable to the provincial governments.
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