Embezzlement claims: Transport secretary ‘respectfully bows out’

Bablani insists that an upset officer poisoned the minister’s ear against him.

KARACHI:

Following the dispute between the minister of transport, Akhtar Jadoon, and the secretary of the department, Iqbal Ahmad Bablani, over the misappropriation of funds, the secretary finally bowed out and asked the minister to let him resign.

Jadoon wrote to the chief secretary last month and complained that Bablani had blocked millions of rupees and was not cooperating with him. He requested they remove the secretary from his post, after which the chief secretary organised a team to look into the matter.

The main allegation against Bablani was that he had misappropriated hefty amounts from bus terminal projects being built across Sindh. There were also allegations that he had misappropriated funds from the accounts of the defunct Sindh Road Transport Corporation and the Karachi Transport Corporation.

The minister was quoted to have said, “Why isn’t the secretary taking me into confidence over the transport issues? The budget of the department is being misused by him. The expense of over Rs100,000 need to be accounted for.” Bablani responded that he never misappropriated any money and since he was the competent authority to utilise the funds, he was not answerable to the minister.

Apart from the alleged embezzlement of funds, there was a clash between the two over receiving a commission from contractors in different projects. An official from the department informed the minister that the secretary was getting the lion’s share by giving contracts to people around him.

Officials said that a dispute between them arose when an officer of the department who has political support in the present government, developed differences with Bablani and went to the minister.

For his part, the secretary said that someone had misguided the minister. Referring to the letter written by the minister against him, the secretary said that a deputy secretary (admin) of the department, Ali Nawaz Panhwar, who was working on deputation, had misguided the minister following the court’s decision against officials working on deputation. “I had nothing to do with his transfer. All employees working on deputation went back to their parent organisation. But it seems like he is annoyed with me,” he said.

Talking to The Express Tribune, Panhwar said that his complaint to the minister was genuine and had been made for the benefit of the department. Panhwar said that he had played a vital role by winning projects worth Rs1 billion from a Malaysian company.  “It was through my effort and contacts that the government was able to sign a contract with the foreign company,” he said. Panhwar said that under the agreement, the department will install modern buses and bus terminals in different districts. A training centre for drivers and depots for buses will also be set up in Sindh.

Despite many attempts, Jadoon could not be reached. However, his spokesman said that the issue has been resolved and there was no need to highlight it.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 21^st, 2011.