IESCO case: NAB, FIA to proceed against recruiters

The report recommends referring case to NAB.

ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court on Tuesday directed the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) and the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) to proceed against suspects highlighted in an inquiry report on alleged recruitment scam in the Islamabad Electric Supply Company (Iesco).

Justice Noorul Haq Qureshi directed the NAB and the FIA to implement the recommendations of the inquiry committee constituted to probe recruitments in the Iesco.

He was hearing a petition filed against the alleged illegal appointments in the Iesco.

A report of the Ministry of Water and Power (MoWP) submitted before the court last month revealed that a number of appointments made in the Iesco were illegal.

The report said that 69 appointments made in the IESCO were “against the advertised criteria.”

An Iesco employee, Manzoor Hussein Kazmi, had filed a petition regarding the selection of a private services provider, “Resource Access”, as a recruiting agency.

The petitioner said that the contract for recruitment at the Iesco was awarded to a company, which had no experience and was an overseas employment provider, and that too, without a licence.

A committee had later found that the Iesco high-ups were responsible for the wrong evaluation of “Resource Access” and for recommending that the contract be awarded to that company against procurement rules.

The report recommended referring the case to the NAB. The court will take up the case in the first week of June.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 12^th, 2016.