Alleged misappropriation: At UET, a residential society that never came

NAB to investigate 17 varsity officials for embezzling money received for plots

LAHORE: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has started an inquiry into alleged financial misappropriation at the University of Engineering and Technology (UET), where officials are said to have embezzled millions of rupees for a housing society project.

The UET management started the project of a cooperative housing society for its employees in 2005. The varsity workers paid around Rs90 million for the project, but even after the passage of 11 years, no plot has been transferred to any employee who paid for the land.

According to an application filed to NAB, varsity officials allegedly received millions for the housing project and misappropriated the money.

NAB has now asked the university administration to provide details of 17 current and former employees in connection with the alleged graft.

In the letter written to the UET registrar, NAB has asked the varsity to provide information under Section 9 (corruption and
corrupt practices) of National Accountability Ordinance, 1999.



“The subject inquiry [against management of UET] is under process in NAB,” the letter states. “You [UET] are, therefore, requested to provide copies of service profiles and CNICs of the employees mentioned and members of Engineering University Employees Cooperative Housing Society, Phase II, Kala Shah Kaku.”

The officers are Prof Dr Ehsanullah Bajwa, Dr Qamar Rafique, Muhammad Ibrahim, Muhammad Inamullah, Altaf Ashraf, Hafiz Tehzeebul Hassan, Abdul Waheed Sheikh, Prof Suhail A Qureshi, Prof AR Saleemi, Prof Dr Khaleequr Rehman, Iqbal Muhammad, Prof Nadeem Ahmed Mufti, Abdul Hayee Ghauri, Prof Saleem Mian, Dr Tahir Izhar, Prof Khalid Mehmood Ghauri and Muhammad Arshad.

Of the people mentioned in the letter, two are serving as deans of different departments while one is serving as the chairperson of a department.

While talking to The Express Tribune, Technical Staff Association President Manzoor Ahmed Bhatti said he and his fellow employees had been struggling for 11 years to get their due rights.

“We have written to all forums in the past, including the university administration,” he said.

“However, the only action taken has been the forced retirement of one of the people involved while another was terminated. Our money has not been returned neither has the promised land been given [to us] to date.”

Manzoor added that no record of the money collected has been presented to around 1,800 employees affected by the scam.

When contacted, the UET spokesperson said the varsity would fully cooperate with the authorities and all necessary information would be provided to NAB.

The UET registrar, to whom the letter has been sent by NAB, could not be reached for comments.

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