The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Chairman Justice (retd) Javed Iqbal on Thursday criticised the “Socrates and Plato” who term the NAB law as a “black law”, saying that people criticise the institution without knowing anything about it.

Without naming anyone, Iqbal said: “Many Socrates and Platos have come to life who have never read the NAB law but still criticise and call it a ‘black law’.”

While addressing a ceremony in Multan, he said that a “vicious propaganda” is being spread against NAB but declared that nothing would stop the anti-corruption bureau from doing its job.

The anti-corruption watchdog over the past two years has snared several senior politicians, including former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, and government officials for being involved in corrupt practices. Many politicians who are being probed by the bureau for alleged corruption have criticised it, most notably PPP chairperson Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari — who, in many of his press conferences and rallies, has termed NAB as a “black law” that was made by a dictator. Last week, Zardari too had criticised NAB, saying that the bureau and economy cannot go together

In his speech today, Iqbal said that the accusation that NAB’s activities had hampered business activities was a “lie”. According to the NAB chief, he held a meeting with the Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry officials but they could not point out any instance where NAB’s actions had affected business activity in the country.

“The people who say that NAB and economy cannot go together are wrong,” he declared. “Instead they should say that NAB and corruption cannot go together but NAB and economy can.”

“If NAB law is black then why didn’t previous governments scrape it?” he asked. “Every evening we hear that NAB is a black law but we are not told what is black about it. There is nothing black about NAB, you [critics] only say that because you are at the receiving end.

“If there was something wrong with NAB, wouldn’t the Supreme Court have blasted it apart?”

He admitted that “NAB could make mistakes” and that there was room for improvement and urged critics to give “constructive criticism”. He insisted that NAB was a transparent institution and did not care which party was in power.

“Gone are the days when [corruption] was ignored,” he said, adding that whatever action NAB takes will be “within the ambit of law”.

He also urged the people who had “looted money” from the nation to return it or else the “law will take its course”.