Question mark: Officer facing corruption charges made capital DIG

Kashif Alam was nominated by NAB in a Rs2.03 billion arms purchase scam

ISLAMABAD: A police officer facing a multi-billion rupee scam in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) has been appointed deputy inspector general (DIG) in the Islamabad Police.

Kashif Alam, who assumed charge on Thursday, is one of the several police officers accused by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) of misappropriation of Rs2.03 billion during the procurement of weapons for K-P Police in 2008-2010.

In a reference filed by NAB in accountability court in Peshawar in 2014, the authority had nominated former K-P inspector general of police (IGP) Malik Naveed, then-Frontier Constabulary commandant Abdul Majeed Khan, former additional IGP (operations) Abdul Latif Khan, DIG Sajid Ali Khan, the then DIG headquarters Muhammad Suleman Khan, former K-P Police budget officer of Javed Khan, then-AIG Kashif Alam, former telecommunications DIG Sadiq Kamal Orakzai, as well as Raza Ali Khan, a relative of former chief minister Amir Haider Hoti and Hoti’s brother Amir Ghazan Hoti in the scam.

The reference stated that of the Rs7 billion contract for purchasing weapons and other equipment for K-P Police in 2008-2010, Rs2.03 billion was misappropriated.

NAB said that the contract was awarded to a firm which had no previous experience in supplying weapons and related equipment. The anti-graft body also said that the contractor influenced the process of competition of bids to get the contract.

Naveed, the former IGP, was arrested by NAB in November 2013. He and Javed Khan, the former budget officer, have also been formally charged.

Alam and two other suspects, however, moved the Peshawar High Court and obtained an interim bail-before-arrest. The court disposed of their pleas in June after they expressed their willingness to appear in an accountability court. NAB also withdrew the notices and arrest warrants against them.

The case is still open in an accountability court in Peshawar.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 9^th, 2016.