ISLAMABAD: National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Chairman Qamar Zaman Chaudhry said on Monday that the NAB’s Forensic Science Lab had been made operational with the aim to equip the bureau with the latest technology to cater to its emerging needs to eliminate corruption.
He made these remarks while addressing NAB officers after reviewing the progress of NAB’s Forensic Science LAB.
Enumerating the achievements of NAB, he said that NAB was striving to rid the nation of corruption and corrupt practices by adopting a zero-tolerance policy. “A concept of combined investigation team (CIT) has been introduced. Now investigation officers and prosecution work as a team to ensure transparency and unbiased investigations. Corruption is a plague that has a wide range of corrosive effects on societies. Historically, it is evident that only those nations have developed and remained successful who have rooted out the menace of corruption,” he said.
“If we want to become a developed nation, we will have to uproot corruption from our society,” he said.
He said that NAB was trying to raise awareness among people about effects of corruption. “It is encouraging that for the first time, anti corruption has been made a part of the development agenda in the context of governance. Our experience at fighting corruption has led us to understand that enforcement alone cannot cure corruption. It requires a coordinated and a concerted effort with a three pronged strategy of awareness, prevention and enforcement,” he said.
The chairman said that the responsibility to educate the public about the ill effects of corruption and to make it aware of its adverse effects lies greatly with the media. “It is heartening to see that media is playing a proactive role in this drive,” he said.
He said that with the help of the Forensic Science Lab, NAB investigation officers (IOs)/prosecutors probing corruption cases would produce better and quick results for NAB. “The Forensic Science Lab has been established in Islamabad with three sections: digital forensics, fingerprint forensics and questioned documents. Establishment of the lab will help retrieve documents from electronic devices such as cell phones, computers, iPads and networks and its preservation, to determine authorship of questioned hand writing, identity questioned typescripts and printed documents, to detect forgeries in questioned documents, to determine interpolation, additions or overwriting and substitution of papers, and to work on questioned fingerprints for comparison and/or identification purposes. The US Embassy recently provided a video spectral comparator that will assist NAB with identifying fraudulent documents, including travel and identity documents, banknotes, checks, and official letters,” he said.
He hoped that with this new forensics equipment, NAB would be able to investigate corruption cases, not only for NAB, but for other law enforcement agencies as well. “NAB officers have noted that this document analyzer is one of the most sophisticated and useful forensic tools available anywhere in the world and will assist the NAB in investigating corruption cases, not only for their agency, but also for other law enforcement agencies in need of forensic document analysis. NAB’s Forensic Science Lab is meeting our professional requirements and is now equipped with all basic tools/equipment to give expert evidence in all three above sections. The officers posted at the lab, who possess the basic qualification in these sections, have been provided training abroad,” he said.
Published in Daily Times, August 8th 2017.
