Two govt officials convicted of corruption, get six years jail term

Accused confessed to committing the offence

SARGODHA: Two government officials were awarded six years imprisonment each for their involvement in embezzling millions of rupees in Sargodha on Tuesday.

The judgment was announced by Anti-Corruption Court Judge Muhammad Azam Saroya. The prosecution told the court that anti-corruption officials arrested a senior medical officer of Rural Health Centre (RHC) Waqar Hameed and accountant Farrukh Abbas, who embezzled millions of rupees from the salaries of RHC employees in 2008.



During interrogation, the accused also confessed to committing the offence. After a detailed investigation, the anti-corruption officials nabbed the accused and produced them before the court. After hearing the statements and considering the evidence, the court handed down six years imprisonment to both the accused and imposed a fine of Rs0.4 million on them.



Earlier on July 31, special judge of an anti-corruption court awarded 65 years collective rigorous imprisonment and fine to three officials, including an executive engineer of highways over corruption charges.



Two contractors — Azizullah and Sanaullah — embezzled millions of rupees in collusion with some officials in the construction of Mianwali Road. Highways XEN Gul Asghar and managers Wasim Ahmad Khan and Zeeshan were also involved in misappropriation of funds. The convicts withdrew security money of Rs42.50 million from the bank using fraud practices.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 20^th, 2017.