NTS COO stripped of additional charge
Directors appoint Tayyab Akram of CIIT as new chief executive officer
Air Commodore (retd) Dr Sherzada Khan. PHOTO: FILE
ISLAMABAD:
The National Testing Service (NTS) Board of Directors has divested Chief Operating Officer (COO) Sherzada Khan of the additional charge of chief executive officer (CEO) in the wake of the allegations of corruption, money laundering and leaking of examination papers against him.
According to a notification issued on Thursday, Brigadier (retd) Tayyab Akram of the COMSATS Institute of Information Technology (CIIT) has been appointed as new NTS CEO.
On Wednesday, an exclusive meeting of the NTS Board of Directors was held in Islamabad where it was decided that Sherzada would be stripped of the additional charge in line with a letter issued by Minister for Science and Technology Mir Dostain Khan Domki on November 18, ordering the removal.
However, sources privy to the development claim that Akram had been given the charge for the time being to “assuage the anger of the minister who was unhappy for not obeying his orders”.
Acting NTS chief refuses to budge
Sherzada was given the additional charge as CEO on November 4, 2016 after the then chief Haroon Rashid was removed from the position over a plagiarised PhD thesis. The recruiting body is passing through testing times after three federal bodies – the National Accountability Bureau, the Federal Investigation Agency and the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) – started inquiry in separate cases.
A special customs court on Tuesday issued an arrest warrant for Rashid in a reference of money laundering and tax evasion worth more than Rs2 billion and ordered the authorities to produce him on the next hearing.
On the FBR’s request, the court has already frozen all direct and indirect assets as well as bank accounts of NTS COO Sherzada, Dr Junaid Zaidi, Dr Muhammad Suhail, Dr Izhar Hussain and Dr Shahid Awan and sent notices to them.
NTS acting chief sacked amid multiple controversies
Apart from setting January 13 as the date for charge-sheeting the accused persons, the court has also ordered each of the accused to deposit Rs100,000 worth of surety bonds, besides bringing a guarantor.
According to sources, the Board of Directors did not remove Sherzada as COO, fearing the issue would worsen and “NTS might fall into crisis”.
Senator Sherry Rehman has already submitted an adjournment motion in the Senate for “non-action over alleged irregularities in the NTS, involvement in corrupt practices and killing of merit in the country”.
Her motion is likely to be taken up next week by the Senate.
The National Testing Service (NTS) Board of Directors has divested Chief Operating Officer (COO) Sherzada Khan of the additional charge of chief executive officer (CEO) in the wake of the allegations of corruption, money laundering and leaking of examination papers against him.
According to a notification issued on Thursday, Brigadier (retd) Tayyab Akram of the COMSATS Institute of Information Technology (CIIT) has been appointed as new NTS CEO.
On Wednesday, an exclusive meeting of the NTS Board of Directors was held in Islamabad where it was decided that Sherzada would be stripped of the additional charge in line with a letter issued by Minister for Science and Technology Mir Dostain Khan Domki on November 18, ordering the removal.
However, sources privy to the development claim that Akram had been given the charge for the time being to “assuage the anger of the minister who was unhappy for not obeying his orders”.
Acting NTS chief refuses to budge
Sherzada was given the additional charge as CEO on November 4, 2016 after the then chief Haroon Rashid was removed from the position over a plagiarised PhD thesis. The recruiting body is passing through testing times after three federal bodies – the National Accountability Bureau, the Federal Investigation Agency and the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) – started inquiry in separate cases.
A special customs court on Tuesday issued an arrest warrant for Rashid in a reference of money laundering and tax evasion worth more than Rs2 billion and ordered the authorities to produce him on the next hearing.
On the FBR’s request, the court has already frozen all direct and indirect assets as well as bank accounts of NTS COO Sherzada, Dr Junaid Zaidi, Dr Muhammad Suhail, Dr Izhar Hussain and Dr Shahid Awan and sent notices to them.
NTS acting chief sacked amid multiple controversies
Apart from setting January 13 as the date for charge-sheeting the accused persons, the court has also ordered each of the accused to deposit Rs100,000 worth of surety bonds, besides bringing a guarantor.
According to sources, the Board of Directors did not remove Sherzada as COO, fearing the issue would worsen and “NTS might fall into crisis”.
Senator Sherry Rehman has already submitted an adjournment motion in the Senate for “non-action over alleged irregularities in the NTS, involvement in corrupt practices and killing of merit in the country”.
Her motion is likely to be taken up next week by the Senate.