Ongoing case: Pechuho granted bail in illegal appointments case

Suspended teacher took education secretary to court over allegedly asking for a bribe

KARACHI: An anti-corruption court granted interim bail on Wednesday to Sindh education secretary Fazlullah Pechuho in a case pertaining to fake appointments and illegal promotions.

Pechuho and two other employees of the education department, section officer Abdul Jabbar and junior clerk Iftikhar Hussain, have been accused of refusing to reinstate a suspended high school teacher without receiving a bribe.

According to the complainant, Muhammad Mithal, the secretary, through Jabbar and Hussain, demanded Rs200,000 for his reinstatement and extended threats of termination in case of non-payment.



He submitted that the bureaucrat had suspended 405 teaching and non-teaching staff of the education department and his front men were exploiting them by taking money from the suspended persons.

Mithal claimed to have been suspended twice during the course of his employment and added that when he approached the departmental authorities regarding his case he was asked to pay the bribe first.

According to him, the meeting took place at a hotel near the Sindh Secretariat offices and the section officer and junior clerk demanded the money in front of some witnesses named in the complaint. The suspended teacher claimed to have refused paying the bribe, after which he was issued a show-cause notice by the department and the accused threatened him that he would lose his job via SMS.

He alleges that the suspended employees were reinstated only after they paid bribes and that the extortion network was working under the patronage of the secretary.

During a previous hearing, the court issued non-bailable warrants of arrest for Pechuho and others in the case after the anti-corruption establishment furnished its report. On Wednesday, when the secretary appeared in court, he refuted the allegations against him and insisted that it was a move to tarnish his reputation. Pechuho said that he did not know his accuser nor did he, through anyone, ask for a bribe. He submitted that he was ready to face the charges and pleaded that he be granted bail.

The court, after hearing the arguments, granted him interim bail against a surety bond of Rs50,000 and directed him to appear again on March 24.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 10^th, 2016.