Pakistan

Corruption at Polyclinic: Four doctors, CADD official arrested

The Supreme Court had taken suo motu notice of the alleged irregularities in the procurement of medical gases

Arsalan Altaf September 02, 2016

The Supreme Court had taken suo motu notice of the alleged irregularities in the procurement of medical gases. PHOTO: FILE

ISLAMABAD: The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has arrested four doctors from Polyclinic and a section officer from the Capital Administration and Development Division (CADD) for alleged embezzlement of millions of rupees during procurement of medical supplies.

The Supreme Court had taken suo motu notice of the alleged irregularities in the procurement of medical gases and allied services for the hospital. On August 19, Justice Saqib Nisar directed the FIA to investigate and submit a report at the next hearing, which is scheduled for September 6.

The agency launched an inquiry and found out that irregularities had indeed taken place in the procurement process. FIA officials said procurement rules were violated on four counts in 2013-14 to control the bidding process, resulting in a loss of Rs30 million to the public exchequer.

Those arrested include Polyclinic Deputy Executive Director Dr Iftikhar A Naru, Dr Zulkifl Sabir, Dr Azmat Humayun Sumbal, and Dr Farrukh Iqbal. CADD section officer Farhan Sikandar, section officer, has also been arrested.

Suppliers Malik Rehmat Manzoor and Rana Mehmood Ahmad, who were awarded the contracts to provide medical gas to the hospital for the year 2013-14 have also been arrested.

Dr Zahid Hussain has also been nominated in the FIR lodged at FIA’s Anti-Corruption Circle Islamabad, but had not been arrested till the time this report was filed.

The suspects were produced before Judicial Magistrate Abdul Ghafoor Kakar on Friday. Sabir’s counsel argued that the issue had been raised three years after the contract was awarded. He requested the court to send his client to jail on judicial remand.

The FIA legal team, however, said they needed to interrogate the suspects further and recover the embezzled money, thus requiring physical custody of them. The court granted the FIA a three-day physical custody remand of the suspects and directed the authority to produce them in court on Monday.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 3^rd, 2016.