NAB board approves probe into misappropriation of millions of rupees

 Also okays two inquiries against ex-IGP Sindh
Ghulam Haider Jamali and other top officials 

ISLAMABAD: The Executive Board of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Tuesday gave go-ahead for holding investigation into misappropriation of billions of rupees funds in the head of advertisement.

The officers involved in the alleged misappropriation include senior officials of information and archives department of Sindh government and others. The bureau is already investigating former Sindh Minister for Information and Archives Sharjeel Memon in this case. He is currently in Dubai.

The executive board, chaired by Qamar Zaman Chaudhry, also approved the voluntarily return request of M/S Xnine Communications Pvt Ltd of Rs374,546,739 and M/S Insync Advertisement Private Limited of Rs83,643,668.

The board also approved two inquiries against ex-IGP Sindh Ghulam Haider Jamali and other top officials of the Sindh police as well as the officials of Sindh AG department for alleged misuse of authority, criminal breach of trust and misappropriation of government funds causing loss of billions of rupees to the national exchequer.

The board decided to hold investigation against the officers/officials of Ministry of Foreign Affairs and others. In this case, the accused were alleged for corruption, corrupt practices and misappropriation in the sale of Pakistan embassy building in Jakarta causing millions of rupees loss to the national exchequer.

The sale of building during Musharraf regime came up as a big scandal and even the Public Accounts Committee had taken it up for inquiry. In February 2002, the then ambassador to Indonesia Mustafa Anwar sold the chancery building for $1.32 million but the Auditor General of Pakistan objected that theproperty was disposed of in a non-transparent manner without advertisement and even the ambassador entered into a binding sale agreement with the buyer without approval of the ministry.

The board also approved an inquiry against officers/officials of Ministry of Foreign Affairs and others for alleged corruption and corrupt practices in the sale of Pakistan Embassy building in Tokyo causing loss of millions of rupees to the national exchequer.

This issue also came up in the Public Accounts Committee when it was headed by the current Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan.  The committee was informed that the Foreign Office had sold the old chancery and embassy residence in Tokyo in 2007 under a swap arrangement on single evaluation causing a loss of Rs6.3 billion yen.

The evaluation company was chosen without advertisement. The purchase offer was a single offer and no advertisement was made. The board also decided to file a corruption reference against Syed Sohail Altaf, ex-Secretary Health Department KP, and others for alleged corruption, corrupt practices and misuse of authority. The accused allegedly caused Rs15.756 million loss to the national exchequer.

The EBM also decided to authorise another five inquiries. The first inquiry was authorised against Haji Muhammad Nawaz Kakar, ex-minister Balochistan Development Authority (BDA) Quetta and others. 

In this case, the accused allegedly committed corruption, corrupt practices and accumulated assets beyond known sources of income. The second inquiry was authorised against the management of Federal Government Employees Housing Foundation (FGEHF) and others.

In this case, the accused were alleged for illegal allotment of plots, particularly in hardship and professional quotas, by the Federal Government Employees Housing Foundation (FGEHF) management.

The fourth inquiry was authorised against the CDA officials and others for forged allotting of land measuring 137K-01M (17.3 Acres) in Northern Strip in violation of rules.  In this case, the accused fraudulently allotted Rs2 billion worth of land in F-11, E-12 sectors and Blue Area acquired by the CDA.

The fifth inquiry was authorised against officers/officials of Ogra and others. In this case, the accused allegedly issued CNG licenses in violation of rules causing a loss of millions of rupees to the national exchequer.