Four officials booked for embezzlement in uplift schemes

MANSEHRA: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Anti-Corruption Establishment has booked the deputy director of Afghan Refugees Peshawar and three other officials over large-scale financial corruption and embezzlement in development schemes executed by the Tehsil Municipal Administration (TMA) in Oghi here.

“We have arrested one of the four accused who withdrew millions of funds without executing the development schemes on the ground in the Bugermung area of the district,” Abid Khan, circle in-charge of the Anti-Corruption Establishment, told reporters here on Sunday.

He said that the anti-corruption body initiated an inquiry into the embezzlement and misappropriations in 278 development schemes executed by TMA Oghi during the 2017/18 financial year.

“Our technical team deputed by the order of Director Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Siddique Anjum and Assistant Director Hazara Circle Khan Afsar Khan discovered that eight out of eleven development schemes for water supply, streets, and pavements constructions in the Bugermung area were not executed, yet funds were withdrawn,” Khan said. He further said that a large-scale embezzlement and misappropriation were also found during physical inspections and visits of the 278 development schemes executed in different parts of Oghi Tehsil.

The circle in-charge said that following the discovery of these large-scale financial irregularities the anti-corruption body lodged an FIR against the then Tehsil Municipal Officer Oghi, now Deputy Director of Afghan Refugees Peshawar Aftabul Islam Shah, Tehsil Officers Infrastructure Gohar Ishaq and Assad Jamal, and contractor Mohammad Rafique.