Three months on: Action against BIEK officials yet to be taken
ACE raided board’s office on August 9 following nepotism and corruption allegations
ACE chairperson Ghulam Qadir Thebo. PHOTO: FILE
KARACHI:
It has been three months since the Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE) raided the Board of Intermediate Education Karachi (BIEK) offices. but Chief Secretary Muhammad Siddique Memon has yet to take any action.
On August 9, this year, the ACE raided BIEK on the allegation of corruption, nepotism and tampering with the results of pre-medical examinations, which were to be announced on August 12. Due to raid, the results were delayed by almost a month.
The raid was conducted after a report was submitted to the ACE, District West, which stated that the officers and officials at the board are involved in corrupt practices.
ACE chairperson Ghulam Qadir Thebo had submitted a report on the raid on August 15, requesting Memon to initiate a legal and disciplinary action against the former BIEK chairperson, Akhtar Ghori, examinations controller Imran Khan Chishti and IT incharge Dr Muhammad Shaheer. The report also detailed the evidence against the board officials over their involvement in illegally promoting staff members, misusing official vehicles, preparing fake records and tampering with results.
Under special powers, they should be removed from their posts immediately, suggested Thebo in the report. However, it has been three months and action has yet to be taken.
In the week-long raid, ACE had collected strong evidence against the officials in 94 cases of tampering results from BIEK offices and arrested deputy controller Muhammad Dabeer, who was later released on bail after investigation.
Transparency International had also written a letter to Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah on September 24, 2016, asking why no action has been taken even after evidence regarding the board’s corruption surfaced. This letter was written after the government failed to initiate any action against the corrupt officers a month after the raid.
Govt (in)action
Amid serious charges of corruption and nepotism, Ghori, along with two chairpersons of examination boards in Karachi, was sacked by the Sindh government on October 1.
However, Chishti and Shaheer are still performing their duties and no action has been taken against them despite the corruption allegations.
Other than the allegations of corruption and nepotism, Thebo has also mentioned in his report that Shaheer and Chishti were very obstructive and non-cooperative during the raid at the board office. Both were non-cooperative and deliberately shut the IT server, which halted the operation of collecting evidence of a considerable period of time, stated the report.
The ACE team also failed to find concrete evidence of how Chishti was transferred and promoted to Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education (BISE), Mirpurkhas, from either a junior school teacher (JST) or a junior clerk in Angro Urdu Government Boys Secondary School. Despite the contested employment of the official, no action has been taken as yet.
The pre-raid report, which is available with The Express Tribune, states that no document has been found regarding Chishti’s promotion from JST of BPS-14 grade to the post of deputy secretary in BISE, Mirpurkhas of BS-19 grade. It appears that he was illegally posted in BISE, Mirpurkhas, by the education department and eventually promoted to BS-19, added the report.
Ongoing investigation
ACE director Usman Ghani Siddiqui said that the investigation into the matter is ongoing. After collecting all the records and interrogating the witnesses, another report will be submitted to the anti-corruption court for further action.
“The investigation will be completed after one [more] month,” he said, adding that the FIR in the case has been registered at the anti-corruption station and the investigation officer will submit the complete report after the investigation.
Siddiqui also said that all the arrested officials have been released on bail and there were no further arrests in the case.
Commenting on the action suggested by the ACE chairperson to remove the BIEK controller and IT incharge, he said that ACE has submitted the report to Memon and they can take further action once it has been ordered.
Despite repeated attempts, the chief secretary did not respond and was not available for the comments regarding why no action has been taken in the matter.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 11th, 2016.
It has been three months since the Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE) raided the Board of Intermediate Education Karachi (BIEK) offices. but Chief Secretary Muhammad Siddique Memon has yet to take any action.
On August 9, this year, the ACE raided BIEK on the allegation of corruption, nepotism and tampering with the results of pre-medical examinations, which were to be announced on August 12. Due to raid, the results were delayed by almost a month.
The raid was conducted after a report was submitted to the ACE, District West, which stated that the officers and officials at the board are involved in corrupt practices.
ACE chairperson Ghulam Qadir Thebo had submitted a report on the raid on August 15, requesting Memon to initiate a legal and disciplinary action against the former BIEK chairperson, Akhtar Ghori, examinations controller Imran Khan Chishti and IT incharge Dr Muhammad Shaheer. The report also detailed the evidence against the board officials over their involvement in illegally promoting staff members, misusing official vehicles, preparing fake records and tampering with results.
Under special powers, they should be removed from their posts immediately, suggested Thebo in the report. However, it has been three months and action has yet to be taken.
In the week-long raid, ACE had collected strong evidence against the officials in 94 cases of tampering results from BIEK offices and arrested deputy controller Muhammad Dabeer, who was later released on bail after investigation.
Transparency International had also written a letter to Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah on September 24, 2016, asking why no action has been taken even after evidence regarding the board’s corruption surfaced. This letter was written after the government failed to initiate any action against the corrupt officers a month after the raid.
Govt (in)action
Amid serious charges of corruption and nepotism, Ghori, along with two chairpersons of examination boards in Karachi, was sacked by the Sindh government on October 1.
However, Chishti and Shaheer are still performing their duties and no action has been taken against them despite the corruption allegations.
Other than the allegations of corruption and nepotism, Thebo has also mentioned in his report that Shaheer and Chishti were very obstructive and non-cooperative during the raid at the board office. Both were non-cooperative and deliberately shut the IT server, which halted the operation of collecting evidence of a considerable period of time, stated the report.
The ACE team also failed to find concrete evidence of how Chishti was transferred and promoted to Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education (BISE), Mirpurkhas, from either a junior school teacher (JST) or a junior clerk in Angro Urdu Government Boys Secondary School. Despite the contested employment of the official, no action has been taken as yet.
The pre-raid report, which is available with The Express Tribune, states that no document has been found regarding Chishti’s promotion from JST of BPS-14 grade to the post of deputy secretary in BISE, Mirpurkhas of BS-19 grade. It appears that he was illegally posted in BISE, Mirpurkhas, by the education department and eventually promoted to BS-19, added the report.
Ongoing investigation
ACE director Usman Ghani Siddiqui said that the investigation into the matter is ongoing. After collecting all the records and interrogating the witnesses, another report will be submitted to the anti-corruption court for further action.
“The investigation will be completed after one [more] month,” he said, adding that the FIR in the case has been registered at the anti-corruption station and the investigation officer will submit the complete report after the investigation.
Siddiqui also said that all the arrested officials have been released on bail and there were no further arrests in the case.
Commenting on the action suggested by the ACE chairperson to remove the BIEK controller and IT incharge, he said that ACE has submitted the report to Memon and they can take further action once it has been ordered.
Despite repeated attempts, the chief secretary did not respond and was not available for the comments regarding why no action has been taken in the matter.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 11th, 2016.