Exonerated? Probes against senior AMC officials ‘closed’

PHC closes case after being updated by NAB, Ehtesab Commission on investigations

ABBOTTABAD: Around a year after they began, corruption probes against senior doctors of the Ayub Medical College and Teaching Hospital by the apex and provincial anti-corruption watchdogs have been closed, a high court was told.

Subsequently, the court disposed of the case.

A two-member division bench of the Peshawar High Court (PHC) Abbottabad registry, comprising Justice Mussarrat Hilali and Justice Abdul Shakoor, heard statements from the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) and the now-defunct Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Ehtesab Commission.

“The inquiry proceedings against the petitioners have been closed,” the PHC bench was informed.

A writ petition had been filed before the PHC by former Ayub Medical Complex (AMC) Chief Executive Professor Dr Nisar Khan, former AMC principal Prof Dr Shahid Sultan, Prof Dr Mumtaz Khan Burki,  Prof Dr Jehangir Khan, former AMC Dean Prof Dr Azizun Nisa Abbassi, Dr Umer Hayat Khan, Dr Saleem Wazir and Dr Daud Iqbal against the corruption probes being conducted against them.

The Ehtesab Commission’s director general, investigation additional director, and assistant director had been listed as the respondents along with NAB director general.

Ehtesab Commission Deputy Prosecutor General (DPG) Farooq Shah and NAB’s Additional Deputy Prosecutor General (ADPG) Umer Farooq were present at the occasion. Pir Fida Khan and Malik Naeem Khalid represented the petitioners.

After reviewing the statement by the anti-graft investigators, the PHC bench issued a short order dismissing the case.

“The learned DPG for the Ehtesab Commission and the learned ADPG for NAB state that the inquiry proceedings initiated against the petitioner have been closed,” the court noted and disposed of the petition after it became infructuous.

Earlier, petitioners had urged the court to grant them interim relief after received call-up notices from the anti-graft watchdogs. The petitioners expressed apprehension of arrest.

They requested the court to direct the respondents not to harass or arrest them until the final disposal of the petition. The petitioners further stated in their writ petition that the provincial inspection team of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa had, on the directions of the provincial chief minister, initiated a fact-finding inquiry into allegations of procuring sub-standard equipment when Dr Nisar was heading the institution in 2013.

It further stated that the AMC’s Board of Governors (BoG) —being the competent authority — had already constituted a committee under the provisions contained in the Efficiency and Discipline rules 2011.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 10^th, 2018.