Sargodha University gets looted money back

Islamabad : The University of Sargodha received a cheque of Rs94.1 million recovered by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), Lahore from private sub-campuses in a case undertaken by the anti-graft watchdog in October 2018.

The cheque of looted money was handed over to the Registrar, Sargodha University by the Director General NAB, Lahore on Thursday. Out of the total recovered amount, Rs59.3 million would be returned to the exploited students under the supervision of NAB officials.

On this occasion, DG-NAB said that an amount of Rs34.8 million was embezzled by the then administration of the University of Sargodha by misusing their powers and maladministration while the remaining amount was withdrawn from the pockets of innocent students studying in the sub-campuses established illegally by the ex-vice chancellor and his close aides.

The DG said that the ex-administration not only charged heavy fee from the students but also not awarded degrees and transcripts to them.

It may be remembered that NAB had taken ex-VC UoS, Dr Akram Chaudhry and the varsity’s former registrar along with the management of the Lahore and Mandi Bahauddin sub-campuses into custody in October 2018.

They were accused of establishing illegal sub-campuses, jeopardizing the future of students, making excessive admissions, issuing fake documents to the students including transcripts, NOCs and registration cards, committing financial embezzlement and causing a loss of millions of rupees to the public exchequer.

Dr Chaudhry is still under custody of NAB while his last bail petition has also been rejected by the Supreme Court. On the other hand, the imprisoned management of the illegal sub-campuses submitted in February 2019 a plea bargain applications before the NAB agreeing to return Rs110 million in the case.

The former director admin of the Lahore sub-campus, Dr Akram and Shafiq had agreed to return Rs9.2 million and Rs50.2 million respectively. While Waris Nadeem, ex-CEO of the Mandi Bahauddin sub-campus had also agreed to return Rs40.7 million.

The private campuses were illegally set up without fair and open competition process as Lahore and Mandi Bahauddin campuses were established even without obtaining the necessary approval from the Syndicate.

It is worth to mention here that the current Vice Chancellor of Sargodha University, Dr Ishtiaq Ahmad had exposed the unlawful constitution of the private sub-campuses before the court while the then Chief Justice had appreciated his work in acting against the powerful owners of the private sub-campuses.