The accused allegedly embezzled funds in the Ramazan food package announced by the government last year. STOCK IMAGE
Charsadda district health officer (DHO) and former MS of District Headquarters Hospital, Muhammad Khan Afridi, has been arrested by the anti-corruption department.
Talking to The Express Tribune, anti-corruption unit inspector Janzada Khan confirmed the arrest. Sharing details of the charges levelled against Afridi, Janzada said he was detained after the department received multiple complaints against him.
He allegedly embezzled funds in the Ramazan food package announced by the government last year, approved illegal appointments and received kickbacks during his time at DHQ Hospital Charsadda. The official said an enquiry was initiated and following the registration of an FIR against Afridi, he
was arrested.
On charges of colluding with the detainee, SI Ziaur Rehman and accountant Altaf Qadir have also been arrested. Janzada said as much as Rs1.03 million was embezzled in the Ramazan package, while Rs1.18 million were misappropriated from the OPD funds at DHQ Hospital.
NAB arrests FDA official
National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has arrested Shezada Behram, a former executive engineer at Public Health Engineering Department (PHED) Nowshera and currently posted in FATA Development Authority (FDA) as manager small dams. According to a press release issued on Thursday, Behram was allegedly involved in the purchase of substandard transformers at exorbitant rates during his tenure at the PHED. He was arrested from Peshawar.
Behram reportedly purchased electricity transformers under Tameer-e-Khyber Pakhtunkhwa programme for which the PHED was not authorised, and also did not obtain an NOC from Peshawar Electric Supply Company.
The purchased transformers were not of the brand approved by Wapda or Pesco and were not of the specifications required, the press release stated.
It added the accused purchased 41 substandard transformers at exorbitant rates through a fraudulent bidding process, causing huge losses to the national exchequer. The enquiry revealed the accused did not list the supplied machines on the stock register and did not hand them to Pesco for installation.
Behram will be produced before the accountability court to obtain his physical remand.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 15th, 2015.
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