196 govt officials arrested for corruption

Rawalpindi: The Directorate of Anti-Corruption Establishment Rawalpindi Region has arrested 196 corrupt government officials of BS-1 to BS-18 from January 1 to October 27, 2018.

The Anti-Corruption Department has disposed of 87 cases out of total 330 cases in past ten months. 243 cases of different nature are still pending with the department.

According to Directorate of Anti-Corruption Establishment Rawalpindi Region, total 196 corrupt government officials including 191 officials of BS-1 to BS-15 in different departments were arrested, two officials of BS-16, two officers of BS-17 and one officer of BS-18 were also arrested by the directorate.

1,844 enquiries against corrupt officials were received by the Anti-Corruption Department (ACD) since January 2017. The anti-corruption body could decide only 610 enquiries while 1,294 enquiries are still pending. The concerned body has converted 70 enquiries into cases.

Similarly, Anti-Corruption Establishment has received 1,306 complaints during the said period and disposed of 1,292 complaints while only 14 complaints are still under process. According to the documents, 461 complaints were referred to respective departments for further action, however, these departments paid no heed as corrupt officials used influence to thwart enquiries against them.

The Directorate of Anti-Corruption Establishment Rawalpindi Region has registered FIR against PTI leader Major (r) Tahir Sadiq dated 10-4-18 who was allegedly involved in corrupt practices when he was Nazim Attock for misusing his authority involved in corruption regarding mining lease for lime stone granted in favour of Major Stone Crushing . He also tempered the lease record of Mining Department and Forest Department and had been mining in an area of 146 acres for over 10 years on the basis of forged/tempered documents.

In the aforementioned period, Directorate of Anti-Corruption Establishment Rawalpindi Region has also registered FIR against assistant commissioner Jhelum dated 21-6-18, Town Officer (Regulation) Rawalpindi Municipal Corporation (RMC) Malik Tousif Ahmed for their involvement in corruption.

The Directorate of Anti-Corruption Establishment Rawalpindi Region has also registered FIR against Tehsildar Rawalpindi Sohail Maqbool, Patwari Malik Khurshid and several other revenue officers for illegally transferring 732-kanal land in favour of a landlord named Sain Fazal Inam.

The Directorate of Anti-Corruption Establishment Rawalpindi Region (Director) Muhammad Arif Raheem told ‘The News’ that the department will continue taking action against corrupt government officers. “We will take action without any pressure,” he added. He also said that some enquiries against corrupt elements were still under way; some have been disposed of while many cases have been referred to respective departments for action against corrupt officials.

He said that he is also taking strong action against corrupt officials in his own department. “I will never spare anybody who is found indulged in corruption and looting innocent public,” he added. “If a government officer demands 'bribe' from anybody, he should come to my office for complaint, I will take strict action against the said official,” he assured.