Standards body suspends three senior officials

PSQCA to refer their cases to FIA to further investigate the matter

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Standards and Quality Control Authority (PSQCA) on Friday suspended three of its top officials on charges of corruption. The authority will now refer their cases to the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA).

“Assistant directors [of BPS-17] Engineer Nabi Bux Jamali, Mujeeb Solangi, and Engineer Ayaz Abro,” have been suspended.

“The PSQCA had received a number of complaints that these officials were demanding bribes from people visiting the authority to avail its services,” said a PSQCA official, while requesting anonymity.

He said the officials had been serving at the PSQCA since long and the authority had also received complaints against them even from people working within their department.

“The authority later probed into the matter and found them guilty,” said the official.

The official said there were also four other officials of director level, who were currently under the radar of the authority after being found involved in maladministration. “Soon their names will also be made public,” he added.



When contacted, the PSQCA spokesperson Rehmatullah Memon said the authority has started a crackdown against officials who are involved in graft and are defaming the authority.

“The suspension of these three officials has been done under this initiative which aims to improve the image of the authority,” he said.

He said the authority earlier also suspended three officials – including deputy director import export Waiz Ikramul Haq on corruption charges. Memon said probe was under way against these high-profile accused.

“Currently there is a perception among the masses that bribe is the only way to get their work done at the PSQCA.  This is obviously a wrong perception created by officials like them,” he said.

Memon said the PSQC has also established a toll-free number on which people can register their complaints against any official who they find involved in corruption or maladministration. The PSQCA Chief Executive Khalid Siddiq has also asked people to lodge complaints directly on his email address.

The PSQCA Act 1996 empowers the authority as a national standard body of Pakistan under the administrative control of Ministry of Science and Technology.