MULTAN: One often hears rumours and stories of corruptions within our public infrastructure development system. On Wednesday, however, one engineer was nabbed pocketing one million rupees in commission for a project in Multan.
A Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) team along with a judicial magistrate raided and caught engineer Hafiz Ramzan and SDO Khadim Hussain of the Public Works Department (PWD) just as they pocketed the bribe.
However, the raid would not have been possible if the contractor, Amjad Mughal, who had been exhorted to pay a bribe on the Rs20 million project, had not alerted the authorities.
Minutes after he exited Ramzan's office after paying the commission, he signalled to the waiting FIA team. Agents swooped in, the bribe Mughal had just paid was recovered from Ramzan's posession. Though, Rs400,000 that had been paid as an advance by Mughal was still unaccounted for.
Authorities had long suspected Ramzan to have been involved in a number of cases where he was believed to have received kick backs and commissions. FIA sources said that Ramzan had even been transferred from Quetta to Multan by the government.
Mughal said that allotment of the contract had been set for February 24. He claimed that Ramzan had demanded Rs1.4 million as commission to pass his bid. “I had earlier paid Rs400,000, and today I paid Rs one million to him just before the raid," Mughal said.
Multan has been a hub of developmental projects in last four years ever since Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gillani focused on developing his home town in south Punjab. Currently more than Rs1.5 billion worth of projects are under way in Multan alone by the PWD, and more than Rs17 billion worth of projects in the south Punjab region.
An investigative official said that it was possible executive officials were part of a chain of corruption. He further said that Ramzan is a senior engineer but enjoyed the authority of Chief Engineer, while the post of the Chief Engineer lay vacant.
Ramzan had been working in the Multan camp office, overlooking projects in centre and south Punjab.
Jamshaid Dasti, Member of the Housing and Works committee of National Assembly told The Express Tribune that he will raise the issue in the assembly to investigate the matter at national level. He alleged that Ramzan was the right hand of Pakistan Muslim League Quaid (PML-Q ) Federal Minister of Housing and Works Faisal Saleh Hayat and that Ramzan had been transferred from Quetta to Multan on the insistence of the Minister.
Dasti alleged that Ramzan used to give 12% commission on each assignment to Hayat, having ‘donated’ Rs4.5 billion rupees so far.
Dasti prayed that Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Chaudhry take suo motu notice of this mega corruption case.
FIA officials are planning to request the judge to grant custody of Ramzan when they produce him in court. They hope to secure the physical remand and recover the remaining Rs400,000 from his possession.
COMMENTS (4)
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ
its shear truth that nothing cant be done without the permission of the minister . Faisal Saleh Hayat is the main man behind this he should be questioned and should be treated as the culprit. This is the first story which came in front of us there are many others . Faisal Saleh Hayat blames the Government on the Corruption behind the Rental Power Plants. He should also be asked that what is he doing in his ministry. He himself is corrupt and want to become a hero by blaming the Government . he should resign !
How can you keep a check on bribery when the law enforcing authorities including the Police and FIA authorities themselves take bribes. If you are unfortunate enough to get involved in a court case, in the lower courts especially, the clerk take a bribe on every occassion that a hearing takes place. Even the prosecutor asks for bribe from the defendant. This is the place where you come for justice. If one isolated case is caught by the very authorities that take bribes, who are we trying to correct. I dont see any solution out of this conundrum.
Ramzan who has been caught red handed by taking bribe, was is junior most Superintending Engineer (BS 19) of Pak PWD and he was given charge of the post of Chief Engineer (BS 20).because he is expert in corruption. The Senior Superintending Engineers were forced to work under him. Media should demand inquiry that who posted this corrupt man as Chief Engineer
Well done. It shows that accountability and transparency is possible. When more such instances are exposed, I think the overall culture of Third World nations and corruption will change.