# National Accountability Bureau

The National Accountability Bureau (Urdu: قومی احتساب بیورو; abbreviated NAB) is Pakistan's anti-corruption agency. Its chairman is Nazir Ahmed Butt, a retired general.

## History

The Ehtesab Act, 1997 established an Ehtesab Cell, charged with the investigation and prosecution of corruption.
Under the National Accountability Ordinance, 1999, the NAB was established as the cell's successor, and given the additional responsibility of preventing and raising awareness of corruption. The NAB is also responsible for money-laundering investigations under the Anti-Money Laundering Act, 2010.

## Organization

The principal officers of the NAB are its Chairman and Prosecutor General. Its headquarters are in Islamabad. There are regional bureaus under Directors General in Rawalpindi, Lahore, Karachi, Quetta, Peshawar, Sukkur and Multan. There are four sub-offices (for Gwadar, Hyderabad, Gilgit and Baltistan, and Chamman) under Additional Directors.
The current senior management of NAB is as follows:-
| Designation | Name of officer |
| Chairman NAB | Lt Gen (R) Nazir Ahmed Butt |
| Prosecutor General of Accountability | Syed Ihtesham Qadir Shah |
| Deputy Chairman NAB | Sohail Nasir |
| Director General (Operations) | Amjad Majeed Aulakh |
| Director General (Rawalpindi) | Mirza Irfan Baig |
| Director General (Lahore) | Ahteram Dar |
| Director General (Karachi) | DIG Javed Akbar Riaz |
| Director General (KPK) | DIG Waqar Ahmed Chauhan |
| Director General (Balochistan) | Nauman Aslam |
| Director General (Sukkur) | Fayaz Ahmed Qureshi |
| Director General (Multan) | Engr. Masood Alam |
| Director General (Headquarters) | Farmanullah |
| Director General (Training & Research) | Irfan Naeem Mangi |
| Director General (Awareness & Prevention) | Izhar Ahmed Awan |
| Director General (Human Resource Management) | Naveed Haider |
The Federal Public Service Commission is responsible for recruitment of Assistant Directors. Newly recruited Assistant Directors attend a five to seven month 'Investigators Basic Induction Course' and are then posted to the central headquarters of the NAB or its regional bureaus.
The NAB's Forensic Science Lab was inaugurated by Qamar Zaman Chaudhry, then Chairman, on 20 October 2015. It assists investigations by offering expert opinions on forensic matters.
The NAB has also established a Pakistan Anti-Corruption Academy.
For each region or sub-office there is an Accountability Court, which tries offences under the National Accountability Ordinance, 1999. The Accountability Courts are completely independent from NAB, which are headed by District & Sessions Judge or Additional District & Sessions Judge. The judges are posted for three years term on deputation from the provincial judiciary.

## Performance

Since its establishment, NAB has recovered Rs. 891 billion out of which Rs. 543 billion has been indirectly recovered in the form of government's or public usurped land.
The conviction rate of NAB is 75%, which is way higher than Federal Investigation Agency, provincial Anti-Corruption Establishments, Police and other investigative agencies in Pakistan.

## Criticism

In the Broadsheet case, the NAB has been accused of making payments to the wrong person as settlements and has been held by the London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA) of 'conspiring' to defraud and financially harm Broadsheet LLC. According to an editorial in Dawn, the NAB's actions cost Pakistan's taxpayers $28 million in payments as damages as well as a loss of face.

## List of chairmen of NAB

The Chairman, National Accountability Bureau is to be appointed by the Federal Government in case the post becomes vacant after consultation between the Leader of the House and the Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly for a fixed three years term which is non-extendable. Below is the list of chairmen.
| Name of Chairperson | Entered Office | Left Office |
| Syed Muhammad Amjad | 16-11-1999 | 25-09-2000 |
| Khalid Maqbool | 26-09-2000 | 26-10-2001 |
| Munir Hafiez | 01-11-2001 | 31-10-2005 |
| Shahid Aziz | 11-11-2005 | 03-07-2007 |
| Nawaid Ahsan | 06-07-2007 | 13-06-2010 |
| Javed Zia Qazi (Acting) | 14-06-2010 | 01-09-2010 |
| Syed Deedar Hussain Shah | 08-10-2010 | 10-03-2011 |
| Javed Zia Qazi (Acting) | 11-03-2011 | 09-10-2011 |
| Fasih Bokhari | 10-10-2011 | 25-08-2013 |
| Saeed Ahmed Sargana (Acting) | 26-08-2013 | 07-10-2013 |
| Qamar Zaman Chaudhry | 08-10-2013 | 07-10-2017 |
| Javed Iqbal | 11-10-2017 | 03-03-2022 |
| Zahir Shah (acting) | 04-06-2022 | 20-07-2022 |
| Aftab Sultan | 21-07-2022 | 21-02-2023 |
| Zahir Shah (Acting) | 25-02-2023 | 03-03-2023 |
| Nazir Ahmed Butt | 4 March 2023 | Present |