President Mamnoon Hussain on Friday stressed the need to get rid of corrupt elements, recruited by previous regimes, to improve the performance of government departments. Addressing a seminar to mark the International Anti-Corruption Day at the Aiwan-e-Sadr, he asked heads of government departments to clear their departments from corrupt elements appointed by previous governments. Government departments should be made corruption free to improve their performance, he said.
The president asked National Accountability Bureau (NAB) and other anti-corruption agencies to take strict action against corrupt elements and make them example for others.
He emphasised to make the process of accountability more transparent and effective, adding the government alone could not eliminate corruption therefore all segments of society needed to joint hands with anti-corruption agencies to get rid of the menace. Mamnoon launched a colour book for children to raise awareness on corruption and also gave away certificates to officials on their good performance against corruption.
Zahid Hamid, Federal Minister for Law and Justice speaking on the occasion said Pakistan ratified UN Convention on anti-corruption in 2007 and added that corruption was now recognised as one of the biggest challenges that were hindering prosperity by reducing direct investment and encouraging waste of resources.
He said the government had finalised draft of National Accountability Commission which would soon be placed before the parliament. "Corruption is an impediment to economic growth and prosperity, hinders economic development by reducing domestic investment, discourages foreign direct investment and encourages wastage of resources and over-spending," he said.
Ashraf Mahmood Wathra, the governor State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) said his institution had been a strong supporter of fight against corruption and had partnered with NAB for the purpose. Corruption brought the development of a society to a halt, he said. He said SBP had taken several steps for checking illegal transaction of money and Financial Monitoring Unit (FMU) had also been set up for this purpose. "Taking decision for personal glorification and wrong decision taken at a wrong time are some of the major reasons for rampant corruption," he said.
Chairman NAB Qamar Zaman Chaudhry said that on this day ie 9th of December United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) opened for signing at Merida, Mexico in 2003. It is a testimony to the unity and binding commitment of the international community to combat corruption in all its manifestations. UN General Assembly through resolution 58/4 of October 31, 2003, has designated 9th December as International Anti-Corruption Day.
He said corruption was a symptom and an outcome of institutional weakness, with potentially adverse effects on a country's economic performance. Chaudhry said there had been a significant reduction in corruption in last three years. He said NAB finalised 1,114 inquiries in 2015 as compare to 585 in 2014 and only 243 in 2013; similarly, 402 investigations were finalised in 2015 as compare to 188 in 2014 and 129 in 2013. 397 References were filed in courts in 2015 as compare to 208 in 2014 and 119 in 2013.
He said time limits had been laid down in the Standard Operating Procedures for completion of various stages of operational assignments. Complaint Verification will be completed in two months. Inquiry & Investigation stages will be completed in four months each. Thus, a total of 10 months had been laid down to file a Reference in the court, he said
He said "on bilateral co-operation, Pakistan has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with China in September 2016 to streamline and structure our co-operation in the fields of anti-corruption. In the context of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) this co-operation will further boost confidence in projects undertaken. Another MoU is proposed to be signed with Malaysia."
Comments
Comments are closed.