ISLAMABAD, Dec 9: The National Accountability Bureau on Thursday said it discreetly probed complaints of misuse of authority against Senator Mushahid Hussain but closed investigations after finding no substance in the matter.

A NAB spokesman told journalists in a briefing that investigations against the senator commenced on audit reports of the auditor-general of Pakistan revenue on the ministry of information and on a private complaint against him but nothing significant was discovered.

A motion on breach of privilege of Secretary General Pakistan Muslim League senator Mushahid Hussain on a similar matter had been referred to the Senate's privileges committee on Dec 2.

The spokesman rejected the impression that inquiry against the senator started after advertisements of "rogue army" appeared in the international press. He denied that former prosecutor-general Farooq Adam had told the Rawalpindi Bench of the Lahore High Court on Jan 25, 2000 in a habeas corpus petition of Mushahid Hussain that the senator was not being investigated.

About the registration of any case against the senator, the spokesman explained that there was no concept of registration of cases in NAB, as it initiated investigations after receiving complaints against the accused.

References were filed against the accused before the accountability courts only after concrete evidence of corruption or misuse of authority against the culprit were found to be correct.

Referring to Asif Ali Zardari's release, he said that NAB had not closed cases against Mr Zardari and all eight references would be pursued by the bureau. He, however, accepted a typographical mistake on the information provided to the Senate about Industries Minister Jehangir Khan Tareen and explained that inquiry against him for misuse of authority started on August 2000 but closed on May 2002.

He evaded a question about cases against Water and Power Minister Liaquat Ali Jatoi and said disclosure of information in this regard would compromise investigations.

Defending NAB, the spokesman said, the bureau's success rate was pretty good as 85 per cent of its references resulted in convictions at the accountability courts level but conceded that at the Supreme Court level, the success rate was 30 per cent. This indicated that NAB still needed to improve its investigation system, he said.

After the merger of anti-corruption and economic crimes wings of the Federal Investigation Agency with NAB, 1,100 corruption cases had been transferred to the bureau.

With merger, 753 vacant posts had been transferred to NAB, of which the bureau retained 295 officers, while rest of the vacancies would be advertised. Officers who were not selected would go to the surplus pool, he said.

Till Nov 12, 724 references had been filed by NAB in the accountability courts, of which five cases had been filed against two former prime ministers, 21 cases against chief ministers, 56 against MNAs, 75 against MPAs, 13 against senators, 12 against personnel of the armed forces, 389 against bureaucrats and 96 against businessmen.

So far, 454 cases have been decided, 357 resulting in convictions, 62 acquittals while 35 cases have been withdrawn. The spokesman also briefed journalists about findings of an international seminar on corruption which was held in Lahore between Nov 25 and Nov 27 and said the seminar's recommendations would be presented to the prime minister.

Causes of corruption, according to the conclusions, included low remuneration and lack of incentives for being honest, lack of transparency in public sector operations, lack of education and awareness among the masses, breakdown of the value system resulting in social acceptance of corruption, difficult access to justice, political compromises and weak management and internal controls.