Court acquits 16 in Saaf Paani NAB reference

An accountability court on Monday acquitted 16 persons, including Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leaders Raja Qamarul Islam and Waseem Ajmal, who were accused in the Saaf Paani (clean water) reference filed by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Lahore in 2018.

The NAB reference had accused 20 people of their involvement in awarding illegal contract to the KSB Pumps for installation of 116x water filtration plants at ‘exorbitant rates’ and by means of corruption and corrupt practices.

According to the reference, the officers and officials of the Punjab Saaf Pani Company (PSPC) had allegedly committed embezzlement of over Rs345 million. Former Punjab Assembly member Qamarul Islam had served as director PSPC while Waseem Ajmal served as the chief executive officer (CEO).

On Monday, Judge Sajid Ali Awan acquitted 16. They included chief technical officer Dr Zaheerud Din, chief procurement officer Nasir Qadir Badhal, Consultant Engineer Saleem Akhtar, Managing Director KSB Pumps Muhammad Masud Akhter, housing deputy secretary Khalid Nadeem Bukhari, former deputy secretary Zahoor Ahmed Dogar, former chief resident engineer Maj (retd) Adnan Aftab Khan, resident engineer Syed Masoudul Hassan Kazmi, resident engineer Moeenud Din and resident engineer Younas.

PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif welcomed the accountability court verdict. “I thank Allah Almighty for the acquittal of former MPA Raja Qamarul Islam, Waseem Ajmal along with 16 accused in the ‘Saaf Pani’ case,” Shehbaz wrote on his official Twitter account. “The fog of political vengeance is gradually dissipating and the light of truth is spreading,” he added.

Background of the reference
The Saaf Pani scam had surfaced after the NAB had launched a probe in November 2017 into alleged corruption in the 56 public-sector companies, including the PSPC, formed by the administration in Punjab led by PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif at the time.

NAB initiated an ‘Inquiry’ against the management, officers and officials of the PSPC and others. This inquiry was converted into an investigation on August 20, 2018. During the investigations, NAB alleged, it transpired that a contract was awarded to the KSB Pumps for installation of 82 water filtration plants at exorbitant rates and without proper approval of engineering estimates/technical sanction.

The illegal addendum of 36 additional filtration plants was also approved wherein the scope of the project was already changed. The civil, electrical and solar works were also executed at exorbitant rates during installation of these water filtration plants in Bahawalpur Region, the NAB had alleged.

NAB Lahore first arrested four people – chief technical officer Dr Zaheerud Din, Chief Procurement Officer Nasir Qadir Badhal, Consultant Engineer M Saleem Akhtar and Managing Director KSB Pumps Masud Akhter on April 17, 2018.

Also read: NAB to close inquiry against Shehbaz in Saaf Pani case

They were followed by the arrest of Housing Deputy Secretary Khalid Nadeem Bukhari on May 2. NAB alleged that the accused disclosed the involvement of other co-accused Raja Qamarul Islam and former CEO Wasim Ajmal who was also got arrested on June 25, 2018.

Later, NAB arrested five more accused during the last week of November, 2018. They included former deputy secretary Zahoor Ahmed Dogar, former chief resident engineer Adnan Aftab Khan, resident engineer Masoodul Hassan, resident engineer Moeenud Din and resident engineer Muhammad Younas.

According to the reference, the accused persons prepared the cost estimates at much higher rates, adding that the award of contract resulted in causing a cumulative loss of Rs345.282 million to the national kitty.