NAB arrests former DG Sports Board

LAHORE: The National Accountability Bureau on Friday arrested former DG Sports Board Punjab Usman Anwer over the charges of allegedly embezzling funds of the Punjab Youth Festival and violating PPRA rules in awarding contracts. The details shared by the NAB on the arrest of Usman Anwer say that the Punjab government had arranged the Punjab Youth Festival in 2011 and 2012. Millions of rupees were embezzled during both rounds of the festival.

Moreover, the NAB has accused Usman of violating Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA) rules in awarding contracts worth millions of rupees. It is pertinent to mention here that Usman Anwer enjoys a notorious repute as in 2012, the police had registered a case against him over the charges of torturing his wife.

Usman’s wife Naima Batool, then serving as deputy collector Customs in Lahore, had alleged in the FIR that her husband and his two friends subjected her to severe torture at her home at EME Housing Society and fled. She stated her husband used to torture her in the past and that he wanted to kill her. A case under Sections 337 L-II and 506 of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) was registered against Usman.

Moreover, it has been learnt that the NAB is likely to investigate former PML-N Punjab Education and Sports minister Rana Mashood in this case. The accused will be produced before the court today for his physical remand.

Meanwhile, an accountability court granted an eight-day physical remand of former SSP Investigations Gujrat Police Muhammad Riaz to NAB, an accused in Gujrat Police funds embezzlement case worth over a billion of rupees. The NAB had arrested the accused after his pre-arrest bail petition was dismissed by the court. The NAB had arrested Riaz over the charges of embezzling Gujrat Police funds through fake bills of Rs 3.5 million.