NAB arrests former Punjab University VC

Former VC will be presented before an accountability court to obtain his physical remand for further investigations

LAHORE: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Lahore arrested former vice chancellor of Punjab University, Mujahid Kamran, over allegations of corruption, illegal appointments, and nepotism. The bureau also arrested five registrars who worked during his tenure.

Kamran appeared before an investigations team at NAB Lahore Headquarters in Thokar Niaz Beg on Thursday. He was interrogated for around four hours, but failed to satisfy the anti-graft body. Later on, the NAB team arrested him.

Kamran has been accused of at least 550 illegal appointments. He also “illegally” appointed his wife Dr Shazia Qureshi as principal of Punjab University Lahore College. The accused also allegedly awarded scholarships to his favoured students. He was also involved in the issuance of contracts violating PPRA rules. NAB also arrested PU registrars Dr Orangzaib Alimgir, Dr Liaquat Ali, Dr Kamran Zahid, Dr Raas Masud and Ameen Athar

According to NAB, they will present him before an accountability court to obtain his physical remand for further investigations.

A few days ago, NAB had arrested six officials of the University of Sargodha (UoS) in illegal campuses establishment case. The arrested accused persons included former vice chancellor Muhammad Akram, former registrar Brigadier (retd) Rao Jameel and chief executive of Mandi Bahauddin campus, Waris, and his partner Naeem. The accused had allegedly minted millions of rupees from students through these campuses. However, neither were examinations conducted nor were they issued degrees. The affected students held protests against the university administration many times. They had organized a daylong protest a few weeks back and staged a sit-in on Canal Road.

Following the protest, the chief justice of Pakistan took notice of the issue and the case was transferred to the NAB Lahore director general.

According to initial investigations by NAB, the criminal role of the accused persons had come to the fire, shared a credible source. The anti-graft body established a committee to create an alternative for students so that their future could be saved, said the source. He added NAB investigations revealed that the accused had also taken a graft of millions of rupees for the establishment of the illegal campuses.

The accused persons were in the custody of NAB over a physical remand.