Rs630m, gold recovered from Balochistan finance secretary’s residence

NAB raids office, residence of Mushtaq Raisani;
machines used to count currency

QUETTA: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Friday raided the residence of Balochistan Finance Secretary Mushtaq Ahmed Raisani and recovered bags of local and foreign currency, prize bonds and gold jewellery valued at around Rs630 million.

The bureau arrested Raisani during a raid on the finance department at the Civil Secretariat and took all the record into custody. Machines had to be arranged to count the large number of bills and prize bonds.

The finance department staff protested against the raid and chanted slogans.NAB spokesperson said Mushtaq Raisani was involved in corruption worth millions of rupees. Raisani, an influential bureaucrat in Balochistan, has served as secretary finance for the last few years. He served in the same position during the PPP government’s term. After a string of arrests in Sindh, this is the first high-profile arrest made by the accountability body in Balochistan during the PML-N government’s term. More arrests are likely after interrogation of the secretary.

Jafar Mandokhel, a provincial minister, condemned the recovery of millions of rupees from the finance secretary’s house. “If money has been seized from his house, we strongly condemn it. But NAB’s approach is wrong,” he said.

“How can NAB raid the residence of a senior government official of Grade 20 like this?” he questioned.Balochistan government spokesman Anwarul Haq Kakar confirmed the raid and recovery of cash. “I can confirm that the NAB conducted a raid this morning and made some recoveries,” Kakar said.

“The raid was not sudden. The bureau conducted the raid after collecting evidence,” he said, adding that it was NAB’s mandate to take action over irrefutable evidence against corruption.“We have encouraged NAB to take action,” he added.