NAB asks government to cut its graft case threshold to Rs50 million

The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has asked the government to change the law that stops it from taking up corruption cases involving less than Rs500 million, Dawn reported.

NAB Chairman Lt Gen (retd) Nazir Ahmed Butt made the demand during a media briefing with senior officials, arranged to highlight what the bureau called its recent successes.

Butt said the current Rs500 million limit hampers action against corruption. “We have demanded of the government to reduce this threshold to Rs50m so that NAB can lay its hands on individuals involved in mega corruption cases,” he said.

Railway land worth Rs6.78 trillion

The chairman said NAB had recovered state land worth trillions of rupees from encroachers, including 235,622 kanals belonging to Pakistan Railways. He put the value of the recovered railway land at Rs6.78 trillion.

NAB says that after this recovery, Pakistan Railways could become self-reliant and launch major rail projects. The recovery comes as the government seeks foreign loans for the ML-1 project, which would lay an additional track from Karachi to Peshawar.

Railways Secretary Syed Mazhar Ali Shah confirmed to Dawn that NAB had retrieved large areas of encroached land. He said a proper procedure was being prepared to sell recovered assets, so the money could be spent on upgrading the railways and future projects.

The numbers NAB is claiming

According to NAB’s Director General (Operations) Amjad Aulakh:

• Third quarter of 2026: state land worth Rs9.18 trillion recovered.
• Since 2023: total recovery of Rs11.524 trillion.
• 2026 so far: recovery of state land and other assets worth Rs14.6 trillion.
• Payments to victims: Rs908 million paid into the bank accounts of 4,280 affected people.

These are NAB’s own figures, given at the bureau’s briefing, and were not independently verified.

Money laundering and students abroad

The chairman said NAB was also concentrating on money laundering, and criticised Western countries for not asking where money invested by the Pakistani diaspora comes from.

“We have learnt that more than 147,000 Pakistani students were staying abroad, with heavy fees being paid by their parents and no authority in the West asking them about the source of money,” he said.

He added that a committee had been set up to deal with complaints from investors who feel they are not adequately protected.

Next targets

After the railway recovery, Butt said NAB’s next targets were corruption in:

• the power sector
• the Evacuee Trust Property Board
• state-owned enterprises
• mines and minerals

Questions in court

The briefing comes as NAB’s own leadership faces a legal challenge. On Wednesday, the Islamabad High Court issued notices to NAB, the law ministry and others on a petition challenging the appointments of the bureau’s Deputy Chairman, Ihtesham Qadir Shah, and Prosecutor General, Sohail Nasir, Dawn reported. Justice Umair Majid Malik asked the petitioner, Advocate Dr G.M. Chaudhry, to produce documentary evidence that the two did not meet the legal requirements for their posts.

Lowering the threshold to Rs50 million would require the government to change the law that currently sets the Rs500 million limit.