Chairman Justice (R) Javed Iqbal of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) said on Tuesday that he had named a full-time director at each regional office, including headquarters (HQs), to deal with the business community’s complaints, but they have not received any complaints so far.
He called on them to address the businessmen at the Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry (ICCI) to take advantage of the directors’ services as they were there to alleviate their concerns.
He said the business community was the economic backbone, as it provided the country with excellent services by encouraging business operations, providing employment, growing exports, and bringing foreign exchange to the country.
He added, “NAB will never take any action to harass any real businessman, but will go after those who commit fraud against people.”
The chairman claimed that, except in money laundering situations, NAB had never questioned any businessman about its source of capital and investment.
As they contributed greatly to improving the country’s economy, NAB had never stopped any investment ventures, he said.
The chairman suggested that he had already given orders to the NAB authorities that no businessman should be called to the NAB office by telephone or embarrassed in any way.
He requested the ICCI to forward the list of business community cases, assuring them that, with the exception of those cases which were sub-judicated in the courts, it would be resolved within 30 days.
Javed Iqbal said he was ready to create a dedicated NAB desk for better coordination at the ICCI.
He said that NAB had transferred to the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) all tax-related and invoiced business community cases and no such business community case was currently pending with his institution.
He said that if any businessman has a complaint against NAB, he should contact the Director of the area concerned, while he was also available to listen to people’s complaints on the last Thursday of each month.
NAB helped return around Rs 5 billion of stuck-up deposits to citizens in Islamabad/Rawalpindi and Lahore from two housing societies.
Sardar Yasir Ilyas Khan, President of the ICCI, praised the NAB Chairman’s efforts to eradicate corruption and said that reducing corruption and encouraging transparency would help business and investment activities grow better.
According to him, the positive position of NAB has been recognized by Transparency International, the World Economic Forum and several other international bodies, which have demonstrated their constructive service to the country.
He said it was very difficult to do business in Pakistan and stressed that the government should concentrate on promoting the ease of doing business to place the nation on the road of sustainable economic development.