Scam worth millions of rupees: ACE finds 13 officials including three bureaucrats guilty

MULTAN: The Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE) has found 13 officials including three top bureaucrats allegedly guilty in a mega scam worth millions of rupees hatched and designed during the PSL Multan matches, documents available with The News revealed.

The Multan region Directorate of Anti-Corruption Establishment has sent a letter to the ACE director general seeking permission for registration of an FIR against the accused including former commissioner Multan Shanul Haq, former chief officer Metropolitan Corporation Shahid Iqbal and 11 other officials in the scam worth Rs 62.419 million of bogus payments paid to contractors illegally. However, 12 days have passed but the permission has not been granted to launch the FIR, ACE officials said.

The Multan Region ACE director wrote in his letter No MR (158)-2020/1554 dated 27.2.20 that the accused officials had made bogus payments of lights installed to illuminate the city at various places during PSL-2020. An inquiry team has found bungling in the payments of fake bills paid to contractors worth Rs 62.419 million, an official said on the condition of anonymity.

The ACE inquiry found that the PSL-2020 edition held matches in Multan and the guilty officials released tenders for the installation of lights in the city but cancelled all the tenders at the eleventh hour and allegedly placed orders to favourite contractors.

Complainants lodged their complaints with the Multan Region ACE and the ACE deputy director Investigations Amir and Muhammad Ibrahim who found out that the accused paid Rs 62.419 million through bogus bills. The ACE inquiry held 13 officials responsible for committing corruption and sought permission from the ACE DG for lodging a case.

The accused include former commissioner Shanul Haq, former chief officer corporation Shahid Iqbal, MO Infrastructure Corporation Zahid Karim, Senior Sub-Engineer Ijaz Arshad, Sub-Engineers Rana Ismail, Hafeezullah and contractors Javed Tahim of M/S Tawakal Enterprises, Mohammad Ishaq of M/S Waheed Construction Company, Mohammad Ramzan of M/S Mohammad Ramzan Nawaz Construction Company, Mohammad Rafiq of M/S Hayat Enterprises, Mohammad Irfan Javed of M/S New General Traders, Mushtaq Ahmad Tareen of M/S Arafat Banquet Hall and Diwan Khas, Danish Aslam of M/S Nawab and Company. All the accused illegally claimed payments worth Rs 62.419 million.

ACE investigators told The News that the ACE investigation team has started a probe into the scams of PSL and Ahsas Kafalat Programme. They said the ACE Multan director had also sent query papers consisting of ten pages each to the said officers and called them for an inquiry in December last. The ACE inquiry has also observed serious violations in given SOPs and tenders' advertisements before initiating development projects across the division.