Caught in the act? 4 Inter board officials accused of tampering with results

Anti-Corruption Establishment registers case against top officials

KARACHI: Four top officials of the Board of Intermediate Education, Karachi, have been accused of tampering results, misusing funds and handing out illegal appointments.

The Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE) registered on Wednesday a case against four top officials of the board, including two former chairmen Akhtar Ghori and Anwar Ahmed Zai, examinations controller Imran Khan Chishti and former secretary Arshad Hussain. After the FIR was registered, the anti-corruption officials started conducting raids and managed to arrest Hussain, who is currently working as a deputy director for colleges. The other officials are at large.



This action comes in light of the raid conducted at the board in August and a subsequent inquiry report submitted by the anti-corruption chairperson to the chief secretary, ACE deputy director Tariq Ali Nizamani told The Express Tribune. “During the inquiry, it was revealed that these officials have tampered board results and are involved in nepotism and corruption,” he said, adding that the chief secretary approved this disciplinary action.

The reason it took them three months to register the case was due to pressure from Governor House to refrain from taking action, claimed an ACE official on the condition of anonymity. “Since the governor was transferred, we have expedited the case and taken action,” he said.

When the ACE raided the board office in August last year, Ghori and Chishti - who were working as chairperson and board controller respectively - held a heated press conference. They had claimed that the ACE team had taken away copies of students’ exams putting the future of 98,000 students at stake.

However, ACE chairperson Ghulam Qadir Thebo insisted they confiscated all database. “Our inquiry revealed that they were charging Rs35,000 to Rs40,000 per exam to increase students’ marks,” he claimed, adding that they were increasing grades to A and A-1 even for students who had failed or barely passed. Many junior officers were promoted to senior positions and officers in grade-18 were appointed in the board without the approval of competent authorities and proper exams, he added.



The charges against Zai date back to the time when he was  chairperson of the Intermediate board until 2015, when he was appointed as chairperson for the Board of Secondary Education, Karachi.

Coincidentally, when ACE conducted the raid at the Intermediate board office in August 2016, the National Accountability Bureau arrested Zai over separate charges of corruption in the Secondary board. “He was granted bail a few days ago and he has been released,” said an ACE official.

Earlier, Transparency International also wrote a letter to the chief minister in September asking why no action had been taken against these officials even after evidence emerged that there was corruption in the board.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 5^th, 2017.