7 held as court orders arrest of 13 in APP corruption case

ISLAMABAD: A court on Tuesday rejected pre-arrest bail pleas of 13 accused in Associated Press of Pakistan (APP) mega corruption case and ordered their arrest.

Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) arrested seven accused from the court premises.

The decision was announced by Special Judge Central Humayun Dilawar after hearing of bail petitions, filed by several APP officials and former executives. The case involves allegations of embezzling more than Rs1.24 billion through fake pension payments, provident fund withdrawals and salary account manipulations.

FIA teams took into custody Imran Munir, Azhar Farooq, Tahir Ghumman, Khurram Shehzad, Idrees Chaudhry, Sajid Ali Warraich and Ghawas Khan. However, five others, including Furqan Rao, Moazzam Javed Khokhar, Arshad Majeed Chaudhry, Shahid Latif and Adnan Bajwa managed to flee before their arrest.

Two accused Ejaz Maqbool and Saqib Kaleem were granted bail by the court.

During the hearing, FIA informed the court the case was registered after a transparent inquiry which uncovered strong documentary evidence against the accused. Investigators claimed huge sums were transferred illegally into personal accounts of APP employees and officials, in addition to misuse of salary and pension accounts.

FIA Assistant Director (Legal) Khushnood Bhatti informed the court several accused were drawing both salaries and pensions simultaneously. He explained names were added to pension lists without authorisation, and when pensions were released, extra amounts were diverted into private accounts.

Provident fund amounts, deducted from employees’ salaries, were also misappropriated. Instead of being safeguarded in institutional accounts, funds were transferred into a NBP branch at a 5-Star hotel and later withdrawn through cheques or moved into other accounts.

Khushnood Bhatti said Arshad Majeed Chaudhry, who served as DDO from 2021 to 2024, allegedly transferred Rs661 million into his personal account, while cheques worth Rs180 million and Rs240 million were also cashed under his signatures.

The FIA informed the court Azhar Farooq, a cashier, was accused of personally withdrawing large sums from banks and transferring Rs800 million into his personal account.

Adnan Akram Bajwa, a former Executive Director of APP, allegedly signed vouchers and cheques illegally, enabling fraudulent payments.

Muhammad Ghawas, also an ED at one stage, was accused of signing a cheque worth Rs70 million for salaries when actual wage bill was onlyRs 30 million, diverting Rs 40 million unlawfully.

Idrees Chaudhry and Tahir Ghumman, both audit in-charges, were blamed for failing to report discrepancies, including issuance of Rs 9million as “salary” to one employee without proper audit.

FIA officials informed the court Imran Munir, in-charge of Provident Fund section, allegedly deposited Rs500 million into a NBP branch account and later withdrew the amount using three cheques. Investigators claimed cheques worth Rs2.1 billion were encashed from same branch, with Rs284 million transferred without proper authorisation.

Ejaz Maqbool allegedly received cheques in the name of then-Managing Director without approval, while Saqib Kaleem was found to have received Rs61,000 from pension accounts.