Ongoing investigation: LESCO chief, general manager sent on judicial remand

FIA officials had asked for an extension of physical remand.

LAHORE:

A judicial magistrate on Monday sent Lahore Electric Supply Company CEO Arshad Rafique and LESCO Operations General Manager Mehboob Ali on a 14-day judicial remand. The two are facing charges of corruption, abuse of power and causing monetary losses to the exchequer.

On Monday, FIA officials produced the two officers before the magisterial court and said they were still investigating the matter. They said that they had confiscated some files that supported the allegations of corruption against them. The court ordered a 14-day judicial remand.

In the proceedings earlier, FIA officials said that they had seized Rafique’s salary account. They said they had recovered Rs6.44 million from his house. They said he also owned four plots of land in four housing societies. They sought additional physical remand to question Rafique and Ali to “ascertain their modus operandi”. They said the LESCO officers had been diverting electricity to textile units, depriving domestic consumers of their share of electricity.

The counsel for the accused said that the FIA had recovered Rs100,000 from the CEO’s house. He said the FIA had also stolen jewellery from Rafique’s house. He requested the court not to extend their physical remand and asked for them to be sent on judicial remand instead.

The FIA had arrested Rafique on charges of corruption and abuse of power. Ali had been arrested for allegedly aiding his boss in malpractice and for taking illegal decisions. They were booked over allegations of ordering unscheduled load shedding at various domestic and commercial feeders and diverting electricity to industrial units. They had allegedly ordered eight to 10 hours of consecutive load shedding in DHA and Harbanspura on May 27 and diverted the electricity to industrial units.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 17^th, 2014.