To appear in front of accountability court judge Ibrahim Khan on April 1. PHOTO: FILE
Accountability court judge Ibrahim Khan has summoned four out of 10 officials – including former Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) inspector general of police (IGP) Malik Naveed – accused in a Rs2.03 billion embezzlement case, on April 1.
The ex-IGP K-P, along with former budget officer Javed Khan, Raza Ali Khan – a relative of the then-chief minister Amir Haider Hoti – and Hoti’s brother Amir Ghazan Hoti have been given notice to appear before the court.
Despite offering to pay Rs80 million for his release, the former IGP, Malik Naveed, is considered the primary accused in the case and remains in Central Prison Peshawar since his arrest late last year.
After arresting five people over the course of its investigation, the National Accountability Bureau’s (NAB) K-P chapter had finally filed a complete reference in Khan’s court on Tuesday alleging that 10 officials had taken kickbacks during 2008 and 2010 while procuring weapons and other ammunition for the police department.
The government had approved the purchase, upgrading of weapons and equipment for its use to counter the deteriorating law and order in K-P. Therefore, Rs7 billion was released by the federal and provincial governments for recruitment, training of police personnel and procurement of weapons and equipment.
Apart from the four summoned, the big names accused by NAB include Frontier Constabulary (FC) Commandant Abdul Majeed Khan, former additional IGP Operations Abdul Latif Khan, Central Police Office (CPO) DIG Sajid Ali Khan, ex-DIG Headquarters Muhammad Suleman Khan, former CPO Establishment AIG Kashif Alam and former Telecommunications DIG Sadiq Kamal Orakzai.
Regarding the six others accused, the judge’s notice order states that the position of these officials is yet to be determined under law (section 170-1 and 173-a of the Criminal Procedure Code 1898). After due diligence, these officials would also face corruption charges under section 9 and 10 of the National Accountability Ordinance 1999.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 23rd, 2014.
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