LG Dept officer arrested in KP for ‘taking bribe’

MANSEHRA: The Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE) on Thursday arrested an assistant director of the Local Governments Department for allegedly receiving Rs25,000 as bribe from a contractor. “We have arrested Assistant Director Assar Khan for taking Rs25,000 as bribe from a contractor for passing his invoice of a development scheme being executed by him in Balakot,” Muhammad Sohail, assistant director ACE, told a news conference at his office here.

He said that a government contractor, Muhammad Niaz, had approached his department, saying that Assar Khan was demanding Rs25,000 for clearing his invoice of the development schemes. The official said that the complainant also stated that he had already paid Rs15000 to the accused earlier for the clearance of the same invoice but to no avail. “We had signed the currency notes through the local magistrate and handed it over to the accused through the applicant and recovered the same amount from his possession,” said Sohail. He added that the accused was arrested under sections 5(2) PC Act and 161 Ppc and would be produced before the local magistrate for the physical remand. He also sought peoples’ help in bringing such corrupt officers to justice, saying that the names of the informers would not be disclosed. Meanwhile, Assistant Director Assar denied any wrongdoing. The official told reporters that he didn’t receive a bribe but was arrested through a conspiracy hatched by the contractors who wanted their invoices cleared prior to the completion of the scheme.