ACE arrests dozens of criminals, huge amount recovered

LAHORE:Three accused namely Ghulam Dastgir, Ejaz Ali and Ghulam Mustafa were arrested by Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE), Punjab after cancellation of their bail in the Lahore High Court, Multan Bench on Friday.

Director General ACE Punjab Goher Nafees while providing details about the case said that the accused in connivance with revenue officials got the allotment of state land measuring 150 Acres in Khanewal district at the cheaper rate of Rs450 per Acre under the Tube-Well Scheme in 2016 and caused huge loss to the government exchequer as the market value of the land is equal to Rs225m.

The accused were involved in irrigating this land with canal water contrary to the criteria of land allotment scheme, he added. FIR has been registered under various sections of Pakistan Penal Code and Prevention of Corruption Act (PCA) in the police station of ACE Khanewal.

Furthermore, the accused persons nominated in the same case, namely Ather Iqbal, the Colony Clerk, M Ashiq Patwari, Muzaffar Bhutta, Shafqat Bashir, Riaz and Shahid Mehmood have already been arrested.

In another case, ACE, Punjab has recovered embezzled amount of Rs1.33m from Waseem Ahmed Khan, Ex-Controller, Punjab House, Rawalpindi. As per allegations, the respondent while posted as Comptroller, Punjab House Rawalpindi from 1990 to 2009, misused his authority and misappropriated the said amount collected in lieu of rent of rooms. During inquiry it was proved by the record that an amount of Rs1.74m had been collected as rent of Rooms during the mentioned period. Out of sum only Rs0.41m were deposited in national treasury. The respondent now has deposited remaining amount of Rs1.33m in ACE.