The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has notified officials from the National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases (NICVD) regarding a corruption case involving Rs 4 billion.
NAB has requested records from the NICVD administration and summoned officials to participate in an inquiry on recruitments, purchases, and salary distributions.
The allegations against NICVD include fund embezzlement, illegal recruitment practices, and salary misuse. NAB has confirmed receipt of a cooperative response from NICVD’s administration in this ongoing investigation.
In response, NICVD has committed to maintaining transparency, activating its internal audit mechanisms to prevent future discrepancies, and has established a committee to investigate reported medicine thefts.
Pakistan’s standing on the Corruption Perception Index (CPI) shows notable improvement. It moved up seven places to rank 133rd out of 180 countries, compared to 140th the previous year. The CPI, developed by Transparency International, assesses countries worldwide based on perceived public sector corruption, scoring them from 0 (highly corrupt) to 100 (very clean).
According to the latest report from the Berlin-based watchdog, Pakistan scored 29 out of 100 for 2023, marking a two-point increase and achieving its highest score since 2020. This is a significant change from its score of 27 in 2022, the lowest since 2012.
