SPSC mess: NAB files reference implicating 20 officials

Accused charged of illegally favouring candidates in combined competitive exams

HYDERABAD: Irregularities have surfaced in yet another examination conducted by the Sindh Public Service Commission (SPSC) for appointments on BPS-17 posts through the combined competitive exams (CCE).

The National Accountability Bureau (NAB), Karachi, filed on Wednesday a reference in an accountability court in Hyderabad implicating 20 government officials for alleged forgery in paper checking and favouritism in the CCE, 2003.

Former SPSC chairperson Muhammad Hassan Bhutto, whose son cleared the CCE 2003 and was subsequently appointed, and former SPSC examinations controller Muhammad Umer Zaur are among those charged in the reference. Some 15 serving BPS-18 officials and three serving BPS-17 officials who are cited as beneficiaries of fraud in the exams were also booked.

"There were 54 candidates who were investigated for benefiting from favouritism and forgery, but NAB got concrete evidence against 18 who have been booked," NAB spokesperson Rizwan Soomro told The Express Tribune.



"The accused have been charged of illegally favouring candidates by recommending their names on the basis of tampering in answer books, fraud and depriving rightful candidates of their merit in the 2003 SPSC exams," a statement issued by NAB read. "Their appointment was illegal as it was based on manipulation and tampering and enhancement of marks by forgery."

Mamoona Shah, Shoaib Ahmed Khehro, Amir Zia Isran, Ibrahim Memon, Ghulam Sarwar Utero, Saifullah Abro, Muhammad Yakub, Muhammad Jumman Thebo, Mukhtiar Ahmed Mallah, Imran Qureshi, Mukhtiar Ahmed Shar, Muhammad Saleem Shaikh, Dr Nisar Ahmed Laghari, Ghulam Murtaza Memon and Ayhan Mustafa Bhutto are the BPS-18 officials charged in the reference. The BPS-17 officials include Sabir Ali Abro, Riaz Ahmed Dahar and Ali Anwar Ruk.