Pakistan’s National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has announced unprecedented anti-corruption recoveries totaling over Rs 547 billion in the first half of 2025, reflecting a significant intensification of its efforts to combat financial crime. The bureau’s latest figures reveal an exceptional increase in recovered assets and funds, with the majority coming from the second quarter of the year.
Most of this amount, Rs 456.3 billion, was secured in the second quarter, a sharp jump from Rs 91 billion recovered in the first quarter. NAB has subsequently handed over more than Rs 532 billion in assets, including both movable and immovable properties, to government agencies and financial institutions. Additionally, over 12,600 victims of fraudulent public schemes have received compensation stemming from these recoveries.
Over the past two years, NAB’s total recoveries have surged to nearly Rs 5,855 billion, representing a dramatic 700 percent increase compared to the Rs 839 billion cumulatively recovered since the bureau began operations.
Significant recoveries for the second quarter include the transfer of 51 Kanals of prime state land, valued at Rs 29 billion, in Islamabad’s Sector E-11 from NAB Rawalpindi to the Capital Development Authority (CDA). In Sindh, NAB Sukkur recovered land worth over Rs 25 billion for the National Highway Authority and returned land valued at nearly Rs 900 million to the Education Department.
A large-scale operation yielded the recovery of forest land worth Rs 384 billion, boosting the total reclaimed forest land value to almost Rs 1,488 billion.
Progress in landmark cases has also been highlighted. In the B4U case, Rs 3 billion has already been returned to over 17,200 victims, with an additional Rs 4 billion anticipated soon. In the Banker’s City case, several hundred Kanals of land have been earmarked for victim compensation. The Eden housing scam saw Rs 3.2 billion distributed among nearly 12,000 victims. Similar restitution measures are underway in the Pak Arab and Elite Town cases, where billions in assets and funds are set aside for affected individuals.
NAB is also strengthening its collaboration with provincial revenue authorities to recover illegally occupied state land nationwide, property which is estimated to be worth Rs 5 trillion. The bureau’s intensified operations mark a major shift in Pakistan’s anti-corruption landscape, delivering significant financial restitution to the state and individuals defrauded by various schemes.
