Professor remanded for four days

Former Rawalpindi education board chairman accused of Rs1 billion fraud.

LAHORE:

Judicial Magistrate Zafer Iqbal on Wednesday remanded Prof Iftikhar Baig, a teacher at Shalimar College, in the physical custody of the Anti-Corruption Establishment for four days to investigate embezzlement charges against him.

Prof Baig, who is also a former chairman of the Rawalpindi education board, is accused of depriving 4,500 people of Rs1 billion through investment in a ghost housing scheme. He was produced before the court by Investigation Officer Rana Fawad, who sought physical remand of the accused for 10 days.

The judicial magistrate, however, directed him to produce the accused in court again on March 17 along with a report of the investigation conducted up to that point. Prof Baig was arrested on Tuesday at a sports day event at MAO College he was attending as chief guest.

According to the FIR registered against Prof Baig in Rawalpindi, he and various accomplices launched a ghost housing scheme, Education City, said to be located at over 4,000 kanals on Fateh Jang Road near the Islamabad airport. They launched the project with the help of an NGO called the Education Foundation.

Alleged accomplices of Prof Baig included his wife Zubaida Baig, Prof Syed Ishfaq Hussain Shah of Shalamar College, former Finance Department employee Nazir Ahmed, Lubna Tirmizi and Shamim Akhtar.

Each victim of the alleged scam, many of whom were present in the courtroom on Wednesday, had paid Rs61,000  Rs50,000 as an advance on a plot, Rs1,000 as a membership fee and Rs10,000 in commission.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 15^th, 2012.