Curbing corruption: NAB authorises seven inquiries

Bureau also approves three separate investigations

ISLAMABAD: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Wednesday decided to conduct seven separate inquiries in various corruption cases.

The executive board meeting of the NAB was held here under the chairmanship of NAB Chairman Qamar Zaman Chaudhry.

Decision was made to file a corruption reference against Moeen Aftab Sheikh, ex-chairman Pakistan Steel Mills. In this case, the accused person is blamed for loss to the state through misuse of authority.

A loss of Rs378.196 million was caused to the national exchequer.

The board also decided to authorise seven inquiries. First inquiry was authorised against Syed Ali Mardan Shah, ex-minister for population Sindh and others.

In this case, the accused persons were blamed of misappropriation of public funds amounting to millions of rupees, encroachment and construction of shops on government property and accumulation of huge assets through illegal means.

Second inquiry was authorised against Shahid Hussain Jatoi, former member administration, Federal Board of Revenue and others.

In this case, the accused persons are blamed of misuse of authority through corruption and corrupt practices, illegal gratification against promotions and appointments and accumulation of assets beyond known sources of income.

Third inquiry was authorised against Dr Faizul Hassan, vice-chancellor, University Education, Lahore and others.

In this case, the accused persons were blamed of illegal appointments in the University of Education, Lahore.

Fourth inquiry was authorised against officials of the Capital Development Authority (CDA), M/s Park Line Estate Company (Pvt) Ltd and others.

In this case, the accused persons were blamed of illegal transfer of land of the Punjab Forest Department by the CDA officials to Pak Line Estate Company (Pvt) Ltd.

Fifth inquiry was authorised against Rauf Akhtar Farooqi, ex-general manager (administration), Karachi Port Trust and others.

In this case, the accused persons were blamed of misuse of authority by making appointments and regularisation of employees against the rules and procedures.

Sixth inquiry was authorised against Bahauddin Zakariya University Distance Education Director Dr Ishaq Fani, and others.

In this case, the accused persons are blamed of illegal appointment of staff, embezzlement of funds in purchase of books and accumulation of assets beyond known sources of income.

Seventh inquiry was authorised against Usman Malik and others.

In this case, the accused persons are blamed of suspicious transactions forwarded by the Financial Monitoring Unit of the State Bank of Rs19.69 billion in the accounts.

The EBM decided to authorise three investigations.

First investigation was authorised against Ali Raza, ex-president National Bank of Pakistan, Dr Mirza Abrar Mughal, ex-group chief/SEVP and others.

In this case, the accused persons were blamed of misuse of authority, misappropriation of public funds in purchase of core banking application for NBP at higher rates, causing a loss of $19.3 million.

Second investigation was authorised against Dr Nazir Mughal, ex-vice chancellor, University of Sindh Jamshoro and Muhammad Nawaz Narejo, ex-registrar, University of Sindh, Jamshoro.

In this case, the accused persons were blamed of misuse of authority and embezzlement of university funds. Third investigation was authorised against Rasool Bux, ex-chief executive officer/managing director (MD), PHA Foundation, A.S Tariq Sial, ex-DG (CPM), PHA Foundation, Muhammad Hussain, ex-deputy director general (CPM) PHA Foundation, Rana Omer Farooq, ex-deputy director (administration) PHA Foundation and Amna Malik, ED, M/s Armaan.

In this case, the accused persons were blamed of corruption in renovation of Shaheed-e-Millat Secretariat, Islamabad.

The EBM decided to authorise two complaint verifications too. First complaint verification was authorised against officers/officials of Agriculture University, Faisalabad and others.

In this case, the accused persons were blamed of financial corruption in civil work, illegal appointments and selling of building material worth millions of rupees through auction.

Second complaint verification authorised against Ghulam Qadir Palijo, ex-MPA, Thatta.

In this case, the accused person is blamed of corruption and corrupt practices and accumulation of assets beyond known sources of income.

The board meeting approved the voluntary return request of Naseer Ahmed Baloch, ex-secretary Labour Department, Balochistan, Rasool Bux, SO (Budget), Labour and Manpower Department, Balochistan and Malik Bashir, CEO Toyota Zarghoon Motors amounting to Rs2.024 million.

The EBM also decided to close an inquiry against officers/officials of Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Live Stock and others, and complaint verification against Ghazala Gola, ex-minister for Women Development, Balochistan, due to lack of incriminating evidence.

At the end, Qamar Zaman Chaudhry reiterated NAB’s firm resolve to eradicate corruption and corrupt practices by adopting a holistic and proactive approach through enforcement besides awareness and a prevention strategy.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 17^th, 2015.