SEPCO chief suspended on charges of corruption

Inquiry committee finds evidence of corruption, whistle-blower in organisation comes forward

SUKKUR: Following charges of corruption in the civil works division being proven, the ministry of water and power immediately suspended the Chief Executive Officer of the Sukkur Electric Power Company (Sepco), with orders for him to report to the Pakistan Electric Power Company (Pepco) in Islamabad.

His suspension came as a result of the findings of an inquiry committee formed by Pepco to investigate corruption in the civil works division.

Besides this, a Sepco officer has written a letter to the director-general of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), Sukkur, complaining about favouritism and nepotism in the appointments of line superintendents in Sepco between 2011 and 2012.



According to a letter issued by the ministry of water and power on March 31, 2017, Sepco CEO Dilawar Hasnain Memon has been immediately suspended and ordered to report to Pepco in Islamabad.

Abdul Latif Anjum, the chief engineer and director of customer services at Sepco, has been temporarily posted as the CEO till further orders. Memon, during his posting as the superintendent engineer of operations in Sukkur, was suspended for long periods on charges of corruption.

A Sepco officer holding the post of deputy manager of services has written a letter to the NAB Sukkur director-general, complaining of Memon's corruption and violation of the rules regarding appointment of line superintendents between 2011 and 2012 in the capacity of the Sukkur superintendent engineer of operations.

In the letter, copies of which have been forwarded to the Chief Justice of Pakistan, water and power secretary, Federal Investigation Agency authorities and others, the officer also attached the list of the line superintendents appointed in violation of the rules.



The complainant has claimed that the written and verbal tests for the appointment of the line superintendents were carried out by a committee headed by Memon, with Ahmed Saeed Solangi, the then HR manager and now director of admin and HR Sukkur, and executive engineer Abdul Ghani Shaikh as the members.

A total of 44 candidates sat for the written and verbal tests for the post and the committee manipulated the results, the complainant alleged. Due to manipulation of the results, some of the candidates who had passed both the tests were declared 'fail', while those who had failed to qualify were declared 'successful'. Some candidates who never sat for the tests were declared 'passed', he added.

The deputy manager of services told The Express Tribune that he is strongly against corruption and therefore has taken this step, which might prove as a first step towards ending corruption in the department.

"I possess all the original letters and a list of the candidates, which I can produce to the NAB officials as and when they ask me to do so," he added.

He said he does not want to disclose his name at this stage but once the process is started by NAB he will appear before him with documentary evidence and will also share details with the media.

A copy of the documents regarding manipulation of the results is available with The Express Tribune.