PESHAWAR:
The National Accountability Bureau Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa obtained a 14-day physical remand of a middleman who allegedly used his influence to quash inquiries into a Rs2.03 billion weapons procurement scam.
Earlier in March, NAB Investigation Officer Inayatullah Khan filed a complete reference of this case in the court of Ibrahim Khan, the administrative judge of the accountability court. It stated that Rs2.03 billion was misappropriated in a Rs7 billion contract to purchase weapons and other equipment for the K-P police.
Arshad Chishti was later arrested from Lahore by a NAB team for allegedly taking Rs4.5 million from weapons supplier Arshad Majeed in exchange for the assurance that any inquiry in this case would be quashed. On Friday, the suspect was produced before accountability court judge Tariq Yousafzai, who granted a 14-day physical remand requested by NAB officials including Inayatullah Khan.
“Chishti was arrested from Lahore after his name was revealed by another suspect, Akhtar Mohammad,” a NAB official requesting anonymity told The Express Tribune.
The official further stated that Chishti was one of three people who took a combined Rs34.5 million in bribes. He added that Akhtar Mohammad’s cut in this scam was Rs15 million, while the bureau was locating a third suspect and he would soon be in custody.
“These three people took money from Arshad Majeed in exchange for using their influence in the bureau to close any ongoing inquiry against the weapons dealer,” he said.
Another man, Zahid Iqbal, was arrested for taking Rs10 million from Arshad Majeed for the same purpose, but was later released after he paid the money under the plea bargain system. Former inspector general of police Malik Naveed, former chief minister Ameer Haider Hoti’s brother Ghazan Hoti and relative Raza Ali Khan are already behind bars over the scam.
Meanwhile, NAB also arrested Javed Khan, a budget and account officer of the police department in the same case. He was booked on charges for misusing his authority and purchasing substandard arms for the K-P police department. He had previously been released on bail.
Authorities claimed that the suspect accumulated assets worth millions of rupees including three bungalows and 7 plots in Hayatabad and Darmangi, Peshawar.
NAB officials said it had been noticed that the accused took frequent foreign trips and collected several vehicles, apart from Rs40 million in cash. He will be presented before an accountability court to obtain his physical remand.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 23rd, 2014.
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IK claims of an independent, znd non corrupt police. But unfortunately Majeed Marwat FC constabulary who took kickbacks in this scam is still at large and not behind the bars.