NAB arrests former SSP of Gujrat

LAHORE: The National Accountability Bureau on Thursday arrested former SSP Investigations Gujrat Police Muhammad Riaz, an accused in Gujrat Police funds embezzlement case worth over a billion of rupees.

The NAB has arrested the accused after his pre-arrest bail petition was dismissed by the court. The NAB arrested Riaz over the charges of embezzling Gujrat Police funds through fake bills of Rs 3.5 million. The NAB has so far arrested 12 accused in the case.

It is pertinent to mention here that the NAB is probing four former DPOs of Gujrat in this case, including SP Kamran Mumtaz, SSP Rai Ijaz, SSP Sohail Zafar Chattha and Rai Zameer. As per NAB charges, all the four former DPOs during their tenure in Gujrat embezzled billions of rupees under different heads of procurement, including petrol, uniforms, martyr funds, fake vouchers, pensions and alleged ghost employments.

Top police officials including Rai Ejaz and Kamran Mumtaz were arrested by the NAB and are now on judicial remand. The NAB had arrested SP Kamran Mumtaz after he returned from Australia where he had gone to attend a professional course. The bureau has accused him of embezzling Rs 550 million under different heads, including petrol bills, allowances and martyrs funds of the Police Department during his posting as Gujrat DPO (2015-16). The NAB has accused SSP Rai Ijaz of causing a loss of Rs 700 million to the exchequer through alleged misappropriation of police funds during his posting as Gujrat DPO. According to the NAB, Ijaz spent Rs 1.3 billion funds in eight months and allegedly misappropriated millions of rupees. He is also accused of involvement in appointment of “ghost” police constables.

Ijaz’s father Rai Zameer, a former DPO of Gujrat, is also wanted in this case. The other accused who are in the NAB custody in this case include former District Accounts Officer Gujrat Chan Peer (2016-17), District Accounts Officer, Gujrat Muhammad Afzal (2014-16), Muhammad Fayyaz Naqdi Muharar DPO Office, Gujrat, Rameez Ahmad, ex-constable DPO Office Gujrat, Muhammad Ashraf, Senior Auditor Accounts Gujrat, Muhammad Asif Butt, Manager National Bank, Gujrat and Shakeel Ahmad, NBP Operation Manager, Gujrat.

Previously, Sagheer Ahmad and Ghulam Sarwar owners of two petrol pumps had entered into a plea bargain with the NAB. The accused had made fake receipts to facilitate corruption of police officials. The arrested SSP will be presented before court for his physical remand today.