PHC dismisses bail pleas of  two 19-grade officials

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Wednesday dismissed bail petitions of two serving 19-grade District Management Group officers, allegedly involved in the misuse of authority and embezzlement of funds.

A two-member bench comprising Chief Justice Mazhar Alam Miankhel and Justice Qaiser Rashid dismissed the bail petitions of Additional Secretary Planning and Development Dr Amber Ali BPS-19, Director General Independent Monitoring Unit Zulfiqar Khan and that of Azhar Jalil, working in the DC office of Mansehra.

Counsels for the petitioners submitted before the bench that the NAB act to arrest the petitioner was illegal as they had been declared cleared of the charges of misuse of authority in the inquiry conducted by commissioner Hazara.

They said that the NAB had taken action against the petitioners on the behest of PML-N leader Muhammad Safdar, the son -in-law of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.The lawyers also said that the petitioners’ officers had played their role of signing authority as the schemes and allocation of funds had been approved by the prime minister for the NA-21.

The NAB Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on November 3 had arrested nine officials, including two serving 19-grade District Management Group officers, for their alleged involvement in the misuse of authority and embezzlement of funds.

The NAB prosecutor informed the court that 19 contractors had made plea bargain with the NAB in the case after their arrest and two contractors including Abdul Mastafa and Altaf Hussain had also became approver in the case.

He said that as per the statement of the approvers in the court, the officials have got 43 percent as commission from them of the paid money for the schemes. Furthermore, he said, the advertisement for the bids of the schemes was also a fake one as it was revealed in the NAB inquiry that in the original newspaper there was no such advertisement. He said that the officials also identified fake schemes, which did not exist during the inquiry.