ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s anti-corruption watchdog on Tuesday raised objections to a recent International Monetary Fund (IMF) report on corruption and governance weaknesses in the South Asian country, describing it as a “perception-driven” assessment and insisting corruption has declined in Pakistan in recent years.

In its Governance and Corruption Diagnostic Assessment (GCDA) published last month, the IMF highlighted weaknesses in key institutions and called for prioritizing a 15-point reform agenda to address vulnerabilities linked to heightened corruption risks in Pakistan.

While acknowledging that Pakistan’s National Accountability Bureau (NAB) had recovered Rs5.31 trillion ($18.8 billion) in 2023–24, the report noted the anti-graft watchdog could only secure 31 corruption convictions between 2022 and 2024, citing NAB’s statistics.

Pakistan’s government has described the IMF report as a “catalyst” for long-overdue reforms, saying the findings would help the government strengthen oversight, plug leakages and improve transparency in the South Asian country.

“The report is not data-driven but perception-driven. Some misleading facts perhaps stem from perceptional conjectures,” a top NAB official, who requested anonymity, told Arab News, adding that NAB’s sustained efforts had brought down corruption in Pakistan by 20-25 percent over the last two years.

In its report, the IMF also raised concern about a NAB mechanism that allows “voluntary return” of looted public wealth under Section 25(a) of the National Accountability Ordinance.

“Without court oversight or public transparency… this voluntary return procedure creates risks of abuse and severely weakens the deterrent effect of asset recovery efforts,” the global lender had observed.

The NAB official rejected the IMF’s observation that the “voluntary return” mechanism operates without judicial oversight.

“Every voluntary return is approved and supervised by a NAB court,” he said, adding that under the amended NAB law, cases below Rs500 million ($1.7 million) no longer fall under NAB’s jurisdiction.

NAB has introduced internal reforms to prevent misuse of the institution for political victimization or harassment of government officials and businessmen, according to the official. Every complaint is now thoroughly verified before any investigation is authorized.

“It would have been far more credible if these issues were discussed formally with the government and facts verified during consultations,” he added.

The official said the anti-graft body was committed to improving transparency, internal oversight and depoliticization to restore institutional independence and rebuild public trust.

He challenged what he described as a “widespread misinterpretation” of the IMF report, suggesting that NAB had recovered Rs5.3 trillion ($18.8 billion) in corruption cases during the 2023-24 period.

“In reality, most recoveries were linked to mismanagement of state assets by various departments,” the official said, explaining that these were largely the result of coordinated efforts between provincial governments and NAB to recover state lands which had remained unaccounted for over the decades.

“This is not the result of criminal inquiry alone but of collaborative recovery operations. Much of this mismanagement dates back to 1947, when Pakistan was created.”

PERFORMANCE AND REFORMS

NAB has made “unprecedented” recoveries from March 2023 till October 2025, totaling Rs8.4 trillion ($30 billion), compared to Rs883.5 billion ($3.25 billion) recovered over the previous 23 years since its inception, according to the official.

“Around 80 percent of these recoveries are in the form of land retrieval, while the remainder involves scams such as fraudulent housing societies and public deception,” he shared. “Less than 3 percent relates to the misuse of authority by government officials.”

The bureau had recovered 4.53 million acres of state lands worth over Rs8.1 trillion ($28.8 billion), disbursed Rs124.8 billion ($445 million) to over 121,000 victims of housing and Ponzi scams, as well as assets worth Rs85.4 billion ($304 million) in high-profile money-laundering cases, according to a document shared by the official.

The official also rejected misconceptions about NAB’s share in recoveries, saying all proceeds were deposited directly into the national treasury.

MISUSE OF POWER

Sweeping legislative, administrative and operational reforms have been introduced in NAB after amendments to the National Accountability Ordinance in 2022 that aim to improve transparency, protect human rights and restore business confidence, according to the top official.

“Any inquiry against a government official is conducted with the involvement of relevant supervisory authorities, while in the case of political figures, the speakers of the national and provincial assemblies are taken into confidence before proceedings are initiated,” he said.

The NAB has also enforced a revised standard operating procedure (SOP) to overhaul its complaints and verification system, barring anonymous, fake and pseudonymous complaints and making sworn affidavits and full identity details mandatory for all complainants, according to the official.

The new SOP establishes a Central Complaint Cell at NAB Headquarters and Regional Complaint Cells nationwide for centralized tracking, digitization and verification of cases. It also restricts the summoning of businessmen during the verification stage and introduces a separate Business Facilitation Cell with private-sector representation.

“We have helped several businessmen over the last two years in securing their NoCs [no-objection certificates] from regulators in an effort to facilitate business in Pakistan and protect them from unnecessary harassment from regulators,” he added.