Examination mafia: Two BZU officials caught taking Rs100,000 bribe

Masters student told to pay up to pass supplementary examination.

MULTAN:

Two Bahauddin Zakariya University (BZU) officials were arrested on Tuesday afternoon on charges of receiving a bribe.

An anti-corruption team raided the BZU Controller’s Office under the supervision of Magistrate Muhammad Akbar and caught two officials.

The officials were receiving Rs15,000 from a student to allow him to appear in the supplementary examinations.

The men have been sent to jail on judicial remand.

The complaint was lodged by Javed Iqbal, a Masters student, to Multan Anti-Corruption Director Dr Nasir Sayal.

Javed Iqbal, a resident of Shujabad, told The Express Tribune that he had failed in one subject of his English Part II examination.

He said he went to the Controller’s Office two months ago to submit an application to appear in the supplementary examinations. “Muhammad Najaf, who works in the Controller’s Office, approached me and took me to meet Secrecy Department employee Muhammad Noor,” he said.

He said the two men had assured him he would pass the exam if he paid them Rs100,000. He said he was asked to pay Rs85,000 before the exam and Rs15,000 after passing it. He said he had reported the matter to the anti-corruption department who had advised him to play along so they could nab the entire network.

He said he had followed the advice and paid them Rs85,000. “I then waited for them to call me to pay the rest of the amount,” he said. “The officials got in touch with him last week and demanded an extra Rs20,000.”

BZU PRO Mirza Ijaz Bashir said they will wait for the anti-corruption team’s report before taking action. “The board syndicate will meet after the report is received and decide the course of action,” he said. An anti-corruption department official on the condition of anonymity told The Express Tribune that the rest of the money had also been recovered and returned to Iqbal.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 25^th, 2012.