IT corruption scandal plagues IUB

The Anti- Corruption Establishment has arrested Islamia University Bahawalpur (IUB) IT Director Rizwan Majeed on
allegations of corruption and irregularities.

The anti-graft watchdog arrested Majeed and transferred him to an as yet undisclosed location. When contacted regarding the arrest, anti-corruption personnel refused to give details.

University sources confirmed that Director Majeed had been arrested, but IUB does not have the details of the case or the papers filed against him. It has also been learned from reliable sources that anti-corruption has yet
to register an FIR against Majeed, but the preliminary investigation is still ongoing, after which a decision
will be made on whether or not to file an FIR.

A letter was written by the registrar of Majeed’s former place of employment, Khawaja Farid University, to
the registrar of IUB to take action against him. The letter reportedly detailed a prior history of corruption and malpractice.

The IT department has since withdrawn all the increments of Rizwan Majeed and it was recommended to dismiss all submitted experience as fake.

However, IUB’s previous administration hid this letter and took no action.

Instead, Majeed was awarded several important positions, where the financial affairs of millions of rupees were entrusted to him.

For the past several weeks, IUB has been involved in a multitude of scandals.

Last month, the Higher Education Commission (HEC) constituted a fact-finding committee to conduct a thorough and impartial inquiry into allegations of harassment, exploitation and victimisation of female students and the alleged involvement of management in patronising immoral activities and drugs on campus.

Official sources said that Pro Vice Chancellor Bahauddin Zakariya.

University Dr Muhammad Ali was appointed Head of the Committee, which has been tasked to conduct an inquiry and evaluate the implementation of HEC policies on protection against sexual harassment in higher education institutions.

The committee is additionally expected to propose corrective and disciplinary actions and suggest recommendations and preventative measures, which will be enclosed in a report.

This development comes after Vice Chancellor IUB Dr Athar Mehboob wrote a letter to Punjab IGP Dr Usman Anwar requesting the latter to form an inquiry team to probe the drug scandal.

Earlier in July, police arrested IUB Chief Security Officer Ijaz Shah and reportedly seized ice (crystal meth), aphrodisiacs and objectionable videos of university officials and students from his two mobile phones.

Moreover, police arrested the university’s transport in charge Altaf on Saturday and eight grams of ice were recovered from his possession. New aspects also emerged during the investigation into the drug scandal at IUB.

According to sources, police claimed in a special report that “a group of teachers of the university is involved in drug peddling as well as sexual exploitation of students and teachers”.