Professional misconduct: Graft busters rounded up 155 govt officials last year

They also recovered Rs84 million from the accused

ISLAMABAD: Anti-graft authorities rounded up 155 Punjab government officials on charges of corruption, misuse of powers and professional misconduct and recovered Rs84 million from them last year.

The officials were arrested from Rawalpindi region during the year 2014 after receiving complaints against them at the directorate of anti-corruption in Rawalpindi.

Sources told the Express Investigation Cell that overall 997 complaints were submitted at the directorate during the last year, out of which decisions on 967 were taken after inquiries. This resulted in the arrest of 155 officials, including a grade-19 officer.

Similarly, 278 corruption cases against the accused government officials and their facilitators were also decided during the last year out of a total 499 cases. The majority corruption complaints were against the official of Punjab Police, revenue, health and works departments, sources added.

Chaudhry Zulfiqar, the director of the Anti-Corruption Establishment in Rawalpindi division, confirmed the number of detained government officials and also the recovery of Rs84 million from the accused.

Zulfiqar appealed to the general public to approach the department in case of being a victim of any form of corruption at the hands of the Punjab government officials.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 14^th, 2015.