NAB files Rs50.9m reference against official

PESHAWAR: The National Accountability Bureau, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, on Tuesday filed a reference of over Rs50.9 million in the accountability court against Arshad Khan, the former director general of the Fata Disaster Management Authority (FDMA) presently serving as additional secretary Home and Tribal Affairs Department.
An official of the NAB said that the NAB filed the reference after completion of investigation. The NAB, KP had arrested the former director general of FDMA, and two other officers on the charges of embezzling millions of rupees of compensation funds meant for payment to the conflict-affected people for damaged properties in Mohmand Agency.
The suspects, Arshad Khan, presently serving as Additional Secretary Home Department, and two others included FDMA Monitoring Officer Sirajuddin and Community Mobiliser Irfan Khan. The NAB claimed that during inquiry it was revealed that Arshad Khan being FDMA’s director general in connivance with others managed to embezzle millions of rupees in compensation payment meant for the militancy-affected people after operation in Mohmand Agency. It is alleged that Arshad verified a list of 122 bogus affected persons and forwarded it to the relevant department for making payments.
It is added that he further verified and forwarded another 40 survey forms which were not verified and signed by political administration of Mohmand Agency for payments and thus caused millions of rupees loss to the exchequer.
According to the NAB, the federal government had announced payment of compensation of Rs160,000 for each partially damaged house and Rs400,000 for extensively damaged house to the affected people of Mohmand and Bajaur tribal agencies.