ATC rejects bail pleas of two education officers

Karachi
An anti-corruption court (ATC) on Tuesday dismissed the bail pleas of two education officers accused of embezzling government funds.
Director Schools Education Abdul Wahab Abbasi and School Education Department assistant Syed Saghir Wasti were arrested on February 25 over allegations of misappropriating government funds.
They also face charges of drawing salaries, pensions and commutations by setting up fake employee accounts.
The court, headed by Justice Gulshan Ara Chandio, observed there was no cause for leniency and rejected both officers’ requests for bail.

Extortionist jailed
Another ATC convicted an extortion accused and sentenced him to five years in jail. The convict, Muhammad Farooq Khan, was also ordered to pay a Rs50,000 fine.
The court found Khan guilty of trying to extort Rs500,000 from a man named Khalil Ahmed. The incident took place in 2013 and the convict had succeeded in getting a Rs200,000 payoff from Ahmed.
The ATC pronounced the verdict after recording arguments from both sides and the judge ruled that Khan would be face an additional six-month term if the fine was not paid.
According to the prosecution, Ahmed had bought a plot in Gulshan-e-Iqbal in 2013 and had started construction on it when he was threatened by Khan.
The convict had demanded Rs500,000 and despite the Rs200,000 payoff kept threatening Ahmed for more money.