ISLAMABAD: The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on Wednesday examined the appropriation accounts for the year 2018-19 (grant no 81, National Accountability Bureau), and it was given a briefing on the NAB’s total recovery.

Chairman NAB former Justice Javed Iqbal did not attend the meeting and Director General (HQ) NAB appeared before the PAC to respond to the queries of member committee.

Rana Tanveer Hussain chaired the meeting.

The Chairman Committee apprised the committee that coronavirus was spreading widely and the chairman NAB had also contracted coronavirus.

He further said that the chairman NAB had asked to adjourn the meeting for 15 days. DG NAB Hasnain Ahmed said that the chairman NAB was ready to attend the meeting but his test for coronavirus was positive.

The Committee was informed that NAB has recovered an estimated Rs821.573 billion by October 2021.

Around Rs500.6 billion was recovered indirectly and Rs76.9 billion directly. Around Rs26 billion was recovered voluntarily, while more than Rs50 billion was recovered under plea bargain.

The recovery was made in the form of cash, land and other properties.

Members committee showed their dissatisfaction over the detail given to them and ask for more comprehensive details of recovery.

The DG NAB suggested that the Bureau was ready to provide more details in respond to questions of members in the next meeting.

Earlier, the PAC was informed that the NAB made Rs54.6 billion cash recoveries from various regions.The NAB Lahore recovered Rs19 billion, NAB Karachi Rs9 billion, NAB KP Rs3 billion, NAB Balochistan Rs2 billion, NAB Rawalpindi Rs12 billion, and NAB Multan Rs0.479 billion, NAB Sukkur Rs2 billion, and NAB HQ Rs3 billion.

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