Out and about: Former social welfare additional secretary released on bail

Three others also granted bail in same case

PESHAWAR:

Peshawar High Court granted bail to four officers of the social welfare department who were arrested by the Ehtesab Commission for allegedly embezzling funds allotted for buying sewing machines and tricycles.

Those who obtained bail are former additional secretary Noorullah, former assistant director Afsar Khan, Assistant Director for Administration Nisar Muhammad and Lakki Marwat social welfare officer Insafur Rehman on the condition of furnishing surety bonds of Rs1 million.

Shumail Ahmad Butt, counsel for Afsar, informed the court his client was falsely implicated in the case as he was only given the authority to sign and approve the fund. He said National Accounatability Bureau had already investigated the case and he was not charged with any offence.



“Neither any sewing machine nor a tricycle was recovered from the possession of my client. Also, there is no proof with the commission showing that a machine was sold to anyone,” Butt said.

He also told the court if a federal investigation agency cleared the accused of all charges, then a provincial agency cannot reopen the case. The court finally granted bail to the four accused.

The suspects were arrested last month. They were charged with taking help from a contractor and allegedly faking purchases of sewing machines and other machinery by granting contracts to ghost companies. This caused losses worth Rs20 million to the government exchequer.

Embezzling funds

The same bench also ordered the release of the director for Institute of Chemical Sciences, University of Peshawar Dr Imadullah who was arrested for allegedly embezzling funds. NAB claimed Imadullah deliberately maintained the cash book entries in a manner to cover up and embezzle funds from the university’s account.

The bureau claimed he did not enter cheques containing large sums of money. These cheques were issued to him, and two other officials in the department, namely Arif Ismail and Muhammad Ali. All of them cashed the cheques into their personal bank accounts, it alleged.

This amount was drawn under various names of scholarships, thereby depriving the deserving students.

Barrister Mudassir Ameer, attorney for Imadullah, said Ismail and Ali embezzled the funds. However, his client was falsely implicated in the case.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 28^th, 2015.