LG secretary jailed for five years

QUETTA:

An accountability court in Quetta on Tuesday sentenced Balochistan’s local government secretary, Mir Imran Gichki, to five years imprisonment in a corruption case.

Judge Aftab Ahmed Lone announced the judgment. The court also fined the accused Rs800 million in the assets beyond means case. In the case of non-payment of the fine amount, the accused person has to stay in jail for an additional period.

According to the National Accountability Bureau spokesperson, the anti-graft watchdog had initiated an inquiry against the accused in the assets beyond means case earlier.

After obtaining solid evidence of corruption, the NAB had filed a reference against the accused in the assets beyond means case, the spokesperson informed reporters.

The court also ordered confiscation of illegal properties and jewelry in the possession of the accused.

NAB spokesperson stated that the accused had purchased illegal properties in Islamabad, Gwadar and other parts of the country. Gichki also remained the staff officer of former chief minister Balochistan, Nawab Muhammad Aslam Raisani.

He has also served as the secretary of sports and culture recently. The NAB spokesperson noted that Gichki is the second Balochistan secretary after Mushtaq Raisani who was arrested in a corruption case.

Shortly after the verdict, police arrested the local government secretary and sent him to district jail in Quetta. However, the court has yet to announce the judgment on other properties of the accused on the name of his relatives.

The bureau’s spokesperson further said an investigation against the top bureaucrat and the former Staff officer revealed that Gichki had properties worth millions of rupees in Islamabad and other parts of the country.

NAB, having gathered the irrefutable evidence, filed the reference with the accountability court.

Earlier in May 2021, an accountability court in Quetta sentenced former Balochistan finance secretary Mushtaq Raisani and former finance adviser Khalid Langau to a total of 12-and-a-half years in prison in a mega corruption case pertaining to embezzlement of millions of rupees.

The court had ordered to confiscate all their assets worth billions of rupees and disqualified the convicted criminals under Section 15 of the Accountability Act. Raisani and Langau will also not be eligible to hold any government post for at least 10 years now.

This was the biggest corruption case in the history of Balochistan province.

Orders were also issued to confiscate movable and immovable assets worth billions of rupees and deposit them in the exchequer.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 18^th, 2022.