The Institute of Business Administration (IBA) Karachi, which is a public sector university, has found itself wrestling against complaints of financing and procedural irregularities that are said to be plaguing its Marketing and Communications Department (MARCOM).
According to details available with The Express Tribune, the acting head of the department was removed from the position shortly after they lodged a formal complaint about the ongoing irregularities with the university’s Board of Governors.
In this regard, documents obtained by The Express Tribune revealed that a private company providing digital services was initially awarded a contract amounting to Rs10 million through a tender in March 2022. This contract was overseen by the former head of MARCOM, Ayesha Javed, who was previously employed in the same company. When contacted, Javed said that she was traveling and would get back shortly.
As per the contract, the company is only obliged to cover three events in a month along with a select menu of minimum services and for that it is being paid a hefty sum of about Rs847,500 every month, along with additional charges for other services, which translates into more than Rs10 million annually.
Records obtained from the Finance Department of the IBA reveal, a mammoth Rs16.5 million was paid to the company from February of 2022 to December of 2022. And it seems that the company is not yet done minting money from the IBA, as the former MARCOM head recommended extending the company’s contract without a tender, despite reservations from members of the Finance and Planning Committee of the IBA on technical and other grounds.
In line with the recommendation, the university’s head of procurement, Fahad Jawed, approved the extension of the company’s contract in February of this year. The documents obtained by The Express Tribune further show that the IBA’s executive director, Akbar Zaidi, was informed, by Javed’s successor at MARCOM, about the contract with the media agency, and was implored to look into the irregularities and blatant conflict of interest that had taken place in its award and subsequent renewal.
However, Zaidi did not address the concerns. And now, The Express Tribune learnt that MARCOM’s acting head has been forced to step down and the university’s management claims to have initiated an investigation of harassment against the ousted official.
However, as per well-placed sources within the IBA, the official has neither received any show-cause notice nor any information from the IBA’s Human Resource Department, regarding the harassment investigation, to date. Instead, the official has received several emails from the executive director, Zaidi, accusing the former acting head of harassment.
As per the records received, when the now ousted head of MARCOM asked the IBA’s head of legal, Naheed Merchant, about a legal opinion on the contract with the digital media agency, her team termed the agreement “purely one-sided” and favouring the company.
Moreover, documents show that Javed, the former MARCOM head reportedly went on to employ three individuals who had previously worked at the same digital services company at the department.
In this regard, The Express Tribune repeatedly tried to contact the executive director to inquire about his alleged disregard for the corruption and conflict of interest and why an employee was allegedly asked to step down after exposing such discrepancies, but he did not respond.
Hence, The Express Tribune contacted the head of the Human Resource Department, Irfan Qamar, who termed the matter “ongoing” and refrained from commenting on it further by stating: “It would be premature to comment on the issue. It is being discussed internally.”
The Express Tribune also reached out to the present acting head of MARCOM, Maryam Touheed, and asked about the alleged corruption and conflict of interest that her predecessor had reportedly exposed in the award of contract to the digital agency and hiring of employees. “I’m not sure about the tendering process before the recent renewal. However, previously, as per my knowledge, the tendering process was done as per the IBA’s rules,” replied Touheed.
In this connection, The Express Tribune also contacted the former acting HOD, Hammad Sarfaraz, but he declined to comment on the matter.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 18th, 2023.
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