Criminal cases to be lodged against 41 ‘corrupt’ govt officials

Karachi
The Sindh government’s anti-corruption committee has suggested arresting 41 former and serving officials in 11 departments and registering criminal cases against them for their alleged involvement in corrupt practices.
The first anti-corruption committee met with the Sindh Chief Secretary Muhammmad Siddique Memon in charge on Monday for the third time this month.
It was decided that four criminal cases would be lodged against the alleged misdeeds committed by officials of the local government department.
The first case will be registered against taluka municipal administrator of Lateefabad, Hyderabad, Zafar Baig Mughal, besides Arshad Phatan, Yaseen Shah, Qazi Naseem and Qazi Nehal for preparation of fake property documents.
The second case will be lodged against Anwar Ali Baloch, Imdad Ali Shah, Afzal Hussain Qadir Bakhsh for embezzlement of funds worth around Rs29 million.
Another case will be lodged against the staff of Karachi Metropolitan Corporation, Imran Qadeer, Khalid Hashmi, Nadeem Sufyan, Shahid Iqbal and Saleem Masihuddin for preparing forged real estate documents.
Yet another case will be registered against staffers of Karachi Water and Sewerage Board, Izharuddin, Ejaz Alam, Abdul Qadir, Arif Farooq, and Safiullah Khan for operating illegal water hydrant in Manghopir area.
Three more criminal cases will be registered for alleged misappropriation in the provincial agriculture department.
In this regard, the anti-corruption decided to register a case against Khadim Ali, Khuda Bakhsh and Aslam Khanzada for alleged embezzlement of funds amounting to Rs2.5 million.
Another case will be lodged against Liaquat Ali Khanzada, Muhammad Roshan Soomro, Aslam Khanzada and Anwar Hussain for mismanagement in the Sindh Seed Corporation while yet another case will be lodged against Ghulam Qadir Chakrani, Muhammad Ibrahim and others for illegal allotment of shops in new Sabzi Mandi in Karachi.
Moreover, it was also decided that two criminal cases will be referred to the Sindh excise and taxation department. The cases are against the staffers of motor registration wing of the excise department in Karachi, Ejaz Ahmed, Shaukat Channa, Sheraz Gul, Ather Saeed and Muhammad Zafar and another is against Waheed Ahmed Sheikh from Jacobabad for alleged preparation of fake registration documents.
Two cases will be registered against officials of the food department. Khairpur food inspector Mohammad Ali Ujjan will be booked for embezzling around 250 metric tonnes of wheat from government stocks while another case will be lodged against Saleemuddin Chishti, Ather Hussain, Abdul Aziz, and others for illegal allotment of land of the Sindh Cooperative Society.
Speaking on the occasion, the chairman of Sindh Anti-Corruption Establishment, Syed Mumtaz Ali Shah, said all the accused will be apprehended after the conclusion of inquiries and other formalities.
Till now in all its meetings, the anti-corruption committee has decided on registration of 11 FIRs and ordered 45 more open inquiries against officials for their alleged misdeeds.
Besides, it has also issued directions to hold 25 departmental inquiries, reinvestigate five other matters while also closing two cases of corruption in the Sindh government. Out of the total 112 corruption cases referred to the committee, 88 have been decided.