KARACHI: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Wednesday issued notice to officials of the National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases (NICVD) for a probe into Rs4 billion corruption.
The anti-corruption watchdog asked the NICVD officials to appear for an inquiry into the corruption along with relevant records, directing the administration to provide records of recruitment, purchases, and salaries.
The corruption allegations include embezzlement of funds, illegal recruitment, and misuse of salaries. The NAB has already received a letter from the NICVD administration and is cooperating fully with the investigation.
The NICVD spokesperson said that the institution is committed to transparency and has activated its internal audit to prevent such incidents in the future. A committee has also been formed to investigate the theft of medicines.
The case came at the time when Pakistan’s ranking on Corruption Perception Index (CPI) improved by seven places and is now ranked 133rd among 180 countries in comparison to its 140th place last year.
The Corruption Perception Index (CPI) of Transparency International ranks 180 countries and territories around the world by their perceived levels of public sector corruption, scoring on a scale of 0 (highly corrupt) to 100 (very clean).
According to the report by the Berlin-based corruption watchdog, Pakistan’s ranking, during 2023, was 133 while the CPI score was 29 out of 100 – an increase of two points that made this its highest score since 2020.
Previously, the report ranked Pakistan at 140 while the country’s overall score fell to 27 in the same year — the lowest since 2012.
