RECORDER REPORT

ISLAMABAD: The country’s top anti-graft body on Friday ordered an investigation against officers of Sindh Workers Welfare Board and Revenue Department, Gadap Town.

An official source of National Accountability Bureau (NAB) said that the decision to initiate an investigation against Officers/Officials of Sindh Workers Welfare Board and Revenue Department, Gadap Town, was taken in the bureau’s Executive Board Meeting (EBM) presided over by NAB chariman Qamar Zaman Chaudhry and attended by senior official of the anti-graft body.

Source said that officials and officers of Sindh Workers Welfare Board were accused of purchasing 66.25 acres of land in Deh Allah Phiai area through forgery in revenue record, thus causing a loss of Rs 243.8 million to the national exchequer.

He said that NAB Karachi on Friday arrested five officers/Officials of Tehsil Municipal Administration (TMA) Sajjawal including Iqbal Qasim Junejo and Muhammad Ali Shah, former Accountant/TO Finance, Agha Jahangir, Muhammad Wasif Malik and Aurangzeb Magsi, former Town Officers on charges of Rs 101 million embezzlement in TMA Sajjawal, allocating funds to dummy contractors.

The official said that last week NAB Karachi arrested Manzar Abbas, Chairman of Benazir Housing Cell (BHC), for allegedly misappropriating Rs367.5m of the cell’s funds. He was accused of making fake calculations for issuing illegal cheques to M/s Fiza Social Welfare Organisation,

The NAB spokesman said that in a case against Faisal Farooq, Ahmer Farooq, Fahad Farooq, Omer Farooq, Farooq Ahmed of M/S Nirala Dairy Pvt Ltd Lahore through its Directors/Associates & Abbettors, the EBM decided to send back the case to Bank of Punjab and if Bank of Punjab feels that it is a case of willful default then they should refer the case through State Bank of Pakistan under section 31-D.

He said that in an inquiry against Khalid Islam, Director General (DG) Pakistan Council for Renewable Energy Technologies, (PCRET) Islamabad, the EBM observed irregularities in the matter and decided to send the case to Ministry of Science and Technology for appropriate departmental action.

According to the spokesman, in a case against Contractor and Officers / Officials of Pakistan Railway for embezzlement in purchase order NO.15/0035/02-0/03-2001 dated 08-05-2007, the EBM directed DG NAB (Lahore) to further examine the case and put up a report at the earliest. In this case, the accused Railway Officers misused their authority by issuing an ambiguous work-order for supply of 11x items in violation of PPRA Rules and made 100% payment to the supplier firm without completion of the project and preparation of the measurement books.

In a case against Azhar I. Jaffary, Ex-Chairman/MD Sindh Engineering (Pvt) Ltd. (SEL) Karachi and others regarding alleged corruption, corrupt practices and embezzlement of funds, the EBM decided to send the matter to the concerned Ministry for appropriate necessary departmental action as per rules.

In a case against officers of government of KP and others regarding illegal re-instatement of accused Gulzar Khan, Sher Adam, Hizbullah Khan and Hidayat Khan, the EBM decided to write a letter to Chief Secretary KP and inform him about the plea bargain of the accused persons and the legal consequence of a deemed conviction.

In a case against Syed Ahmad Hussain Shah, Ex-Minister for Industries & Commerce, officers/officials of SDA, WAPDA/PESCO, SNGPL and others regarding misuse of authority/violation of rules and regulations for illegally converting industrial plot to commercial, the EBM decided to close the case due to lack of prosecutable evidence.

The EBM decided to approve the Voluntary Return (VR) application of officers/officials of National Productivity Organization (NPO) amounting to Rs. 51.65 million of the original amount plus interest at average Kibor rate.

The EBM also decided to approve the Voluntary Return (VR) application in a case against Al-Hamra Hills & Al-Hamra Avenue and M/s Eden Builders Pvt Ltd amounting to Rs. 643 million of the original amount plus interest at average Kibor rate.

In a case against Raees Munir Ahmed, Ex-Federal Minister & others, the EBM decided that this was a family dispute which is beyond the scope of NAB. If the Bank of Punjab feels that it is a willful default case, then Bank of Punjab should refer the case to NAB through State Bank of Pakistan.