Institutional mismanagement: NAB arrests culprits for embezzling royalty funds

The accused diverted an amount of Rs76 million through complex bank transactions and pocketed the amount

PESHAWAR:

NAB K-P arrested former Chitral divisional forest officer Gulzarur Rehman, Chitral District Council member Prince Khalid Pervez, Noor Shahideen, Rehmat Karim and Malak Shaye on Wednesday on charges of embezzling millions of rupees.

According to the policy of the provincial forest department, forest royalty is created to provide funds to concessionists - locals whose forest lands are taken by the government. These funds are to be distributed equally among the concessionists of the locality through the Joint Forest Management Committee (JFMC).

Read: NAB arrests former PESCO chief

However, Noor Shahideen, created a fake JFMC and fraudulently made himself the chairman. The accused, later on, diverted an amount of Rs76 million through complex bank transactions and pocketed the amount.

On the complaint of concessionists of the royalty who were deprived of their fair share of money, NAB initiated an enquiry and arrested the culprits who will be produced before an accountability court in Peshawar.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 21^st, 2015.