Former HEC boss accused of misusing nine vehicles

ISLAMABAD: While the new government has auctioned surplus vehicles of the Prime Minister’s House, a probe by the Higher Education Commission (HEC) has revealed that the misuse of official vehicles is so rampant within government departments that a former chairman allegedly had nine vehicles in his personal use during his five-year tenure.

The report submitted by HEC inquiry officer, Saleemullah Sohoo has recommended that Rs10 billion be recovered from the former chairman Dr Mukhtar Ahmed for the misuse of the vehicles. It also called for the matter to be referred to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) and the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), according to a copy of the report obtained by The News.

The inquiry into the misuse of vehicles was notified on April 27, with the HEC Director Services Division Saleem Ullah Sohoo nominated to lead it. The officer submitted his findings to the HEC on May 15.

So far, no action has been taken, sources said, because the new HEC Chairman Tariq Banuri did not want to appear vindictive toward his predecessor. Banuri told The News he was not aware of the probe and promised to share details after checking with his staff. Later, HEC spokesperson Ayesha Ikram said that the probe into the misuse of cars was ongoing. As it was incomplete, the matter could not be referred to the NAB and FIA, she said.

When contacted, the former HEC chairman Dr Mukhtar Ahmad strongly denied misusing the vehicles and termed the inquiry report an attempt by a tainted officer to malign him. Nonetheless, the probe report available with The News told a gripping story. In it, Sohoo has recommended action over the misuse of vehicles during the former chairman’s tenure, from February 2013 to April 2018, which he calculated to have caused a loss of Rs10,016,432 to the exchequer.

According to the findings of the inquiry, the ex-chairman was entitled to use only one chauffeur-driven car, but actually used five vehicles regularly for official, personal and family purposes. It said four other vehicles, including a tractor, were used occasionally. The report revealed that an HEC tractor, trolley, water tank, driller and other horticulture tools and implements, as well as ancillary staff such as gardeners, were used at the personal farm house of the ex-HEC boss, located near the Islamabad-Lahore motorway. It said these practices resulted in losses of millions.

The report included interviews of the HEC's transport officers and drivers, and the registration numbers of all nine vehicles. It said Rs5.06million was spent on fuel for four official vehicles, while Rs2.5 million was spent on the maintenance and repair of these cars.

“The HEC tractor was used for 1,973 hours, with HEC malis (gardeners), at the ex-chairman’s farm house, which is open corruption,” the report reads. The official tractor was misused for 8,526 kilometres, while nine HEC employees worked at the farm house, it said. The total amount incurred was Rs2.05 million.

According to the probe, ex-transport officer Niaz Hussain Channa appeared before the inquiry officer on May 8 to explain the misuse of the vehicles. The officer said he had followed verbal orders, as none had been issued in writing to sanction the use of the nine vehicles. When his attention was drawn towards “Rules for the Car Use of Staff Cars (Rule 1980)”, the former transport officer said he was unaware of the rules.

The report also included the testimony of a driver, Zakria, who admitted that he was deputed, along with vehicle registration NoGU-568, to serve the family of the ex-chairman. The report noted that the HEC rules do not permit the use of an official vehicle by a chairman’s family.

According to the report, logbook entries recording the movements of the vehicles were falsified to indicate as many as three vehicles each were in the use of the vice chancellors of Karachi and Balochistan universities, and directors-general of the HEC.

Interestingly, the logbooks showed the official vehicles as being used to transport officials to meetings at the Planning Commission, Cabinet Block and Pakistan Secretariat on official holidays.

These HEC officials subsequently exposed the entries as false in their statements to the official inquiry, and advised strict disciplinary action against the individuals involved in misusing their names.

In addition to the recovery of more than Rs10 million from the ex-HEC chairman, the inquiry report recommended that strict disciplinary action be taken against HEC Member (Operations and Planning) Dr Ghulam Raza Bhatti and ex-assistant director transport Mr. Niaz Hussain Channa for facilitation, malpractices and misconduct.

Dr Mukhtar Ahmad, speaking to The News, claimed that the inquiry officer, Sohoo, was tainted for having faced disciplinary action during the ex-chairman's tenure.

The inquiry officer had not even bothered to contact him while conducting the probe against him, he said. “How can a grade-18 officer conduct an inquiry against a former chairman?” Mukhtar asked.

The former chairman said a strong lobby within the HEC was active against him because he had never compromised on the rules and merit. “In this country, no one is rewarded for good work. I worked hard for the success of the HEC and now I am facing the consequences for it,” he said.

“I was associated with the HEC for 15 years in various capacities and no one could accuse me of any corruption, but now they have come up with this. Will I only misuse cars if I am corrupt?” he asked, rhetorically.

The former chairman said his house could only accommodate two cars. All cars on official use had been parked at the HEC. “I live in an area near the HEC headquarters and my daughters were going to a school nearby. Why would I need nine cars for my family?” he asked. He admitted to using the HEC tractor at his farm, but insisted that he had paid for the fuel used.