It is prevention and bringing in the right system that would reduce the incidence of corruption and opportunities of corruption.
This was stated by National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Chairman Lieutenant General Munir Hafiez, while speaking at a round-table meeting held here on Wednesday.
The meeting was organised by the NAB and was attended by senior bankers, businessmen, industrialists and opinion makers.
This was the first of a series of round-table meetings held to bring the stakeholders on a common platform to better understand NAB and the measures taken by it to end the scourge of corruption through its national anti-corruption strategy.
Among others, Deutsche Bank Chief Country Officer Arif Mahmood Ali, NBP President Ali Raza, HBL President Zakir Mahmood, American Express Head Nadeem Karamat, Sindh NAB Director General Major General Haroon Sikandar Pasha, former federal minister Javed Jabbar, AKD Securities Chairman Aqeel Karim Dhedhi, industrialists Majyd Aziz, Tariq Rangoonwala, Zahid Adamjee, Zia Khaleeli, Tariq Bawany, Hamid Maker and Raza Bande Ali attended the meeting.
The participants discussed and deliberated upon various issues related to white collar crime, tax evasion, flight of capital, custom duties, price fixing, intellectual/property rights, etc.
They agreed that strong organisational structures were needed to combat corruption and improve the moral and ethical values of the society. Willful defaults and parallel banking were also discussed.
NAB Chairman Lieutenant General Munir Hafiez said that the bureau was a professionally efficient organisation carrying out across-the-board accountability and ensuring transparency in all the cases.
He said all the decisions were taken through a transparent and deliberate process.
"We do give absolute opportunity to the accused and let him give his point of view to defend."
He told the meeting that the NAB was an active partner of the international agencies against corruption and was a signatory to the UN convention on anti-corruption held in Mexico in December 2005.
He emphasised that the most effective tool to check corruption was a society that was aware of its rights and rejects corruption.
General Munir said the NAB has formulated a comprehensive anti-corruption strategy at the national level.
"At the end it all boils down to awareness and prevention alongside strict enforcement measures."
While commenting on the NAB's successful performance, the chairman informed the participants that the bureau had so far recovered Rs 160 billion.