ISLAMABAD: `Evidence from various countries shows that corruption is a major hurdle in foreign investment and cannot be eradicated without political will. If a government decides to address the issue, it does not take long to make a society corruption free,` Dr Munir Ahmed, the founding president of Islamic Countries Society of Statistical Sciences, said on Wednesday.

He was addressing participants at a conference titled `National Accountability Bureau (NAB) and Challenges of Corruption in Pakistan` organised by Pildat.

Dr Munir said Hong Kong was wrought with corruption from 1952 to 1974. After that a single authority named Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) was established and it eliminated corruption all over Hong Kong within three years. `On the other hand India has many departments working to eradicate corruption but there is lack of political will. Those departments cannot do anything except send reports to the government,` he said.

Dr Munir said Pakistan also has strong laws against corruption but implementation remains weak. `There should be one department like Hong Kong with powers to eradicate corruptionfrom all over the country,` he said.

Former Director General NAB retired Brig Muhammad Musaddiq Abbasi said that accountability usually faces hurdles because departments which are responsible to curb corruption are inefficient. `Iran declared death penalty for corruption in 1979 and recently a banker in Iran has been hanged for corruption,` he said.

`If we would have done same with Double Shah, Muftis of Rawalpindi would never get courage to deprive people of billions of rupees in the name of Mudaraba,` he said. Brig Abbasi said that there were 59 laws against corruption in Pakistan but they could not be implemented because ofpoliticalinterference.

He said the recent example of SSP Islamabad Muhammad Ali Nekokara, who allegedly refused to take action against protesters for which he was dismissed from service, shows there is a need to protect bureaucracy. Moreover there should be accountability of NAB.

`I suggest that a NAB ombudsman should be appointed to decrease political pressure on chairman NAB. The NAB investigations started after inquiry did nothing except waste of time.

Direct investigation should take place,` he said.

NAB Chairman Qamar Zaman Chaudhry, while speaking to participants, said corruption was a big issue and it was considered a major hurdle in the development of the country.

`Past appointments in NAB interfered with the performance of the department. In 2008, the government decided to abolish NAB which further affected performance. Following this, faultyappointments were challenged in courts due to which NAB became dysfunctional,` he said.

Mr Chaudhry claimed that things have started changing in NAB as Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) have been implemented.

While responding to questions, the NAB chairman said that during inquiry flaws were exposed in some portions of the metro bus project due to which investigation has been started.

A committee has been established in collaboration with FBR to stop tax fraud, he said.

Earlier, in his welcome remarks, Pildat President Ahmed Bilal Mehboob said that Pakistan was rated amongst the countries with high incidence of corruption that constituted top 25 per cent corrupt countries. On the corruption perception index, Pakistan has a score of 29, which is the best ever score but is still not satisfactory as India has a score of 38, Japan 76 and Denmark has a score of 92.

`According to the World Economic Index, corruption is the number one problem facing business in Pakistan. Pakistan is losing $15 billion annually because of corruption. All of the issues facing the country at the moment have roots in the endemic of corruption,` he said.

Mr Mehboob said the legal framework under which NAB operates is comparatively quite effective. Recently, the process for the appointment of the NAB chairman has included the provision of meaningful consultation and resulted in nonpartisan appointments. He recommended that there should be more transparency in NAB and reports should be shared on the website.