PESHAWAR, Dec 1: The National Accountability Bureau on Saturday arrested five more accused in connection with an ongoing inquiry into the financial irregularities committed during the execution of the Primary Education Project (PEP) in the Dir district.

A NAB press release said the arrests brought up the total to six. Another accused was said to be still at large.

Those arrested were Jan-e-Alam, Sher Shah, Hamid Rauf Qureshi, Muhammad Ijaz (now executive engineers) and Najmul Islam.

They were serving as sub-divisional officers (SDOs) of the Public Works Department associated with the project at places of their postings.

The inquiry shows that corruption and malpractice could be apportioned to the officials. They were found instrumental in submitting bogus bills to the PEP for non-executed works, and transferring illegally an amount Rs156.181 million of the PEP to the accounts of the then C&W department.

The other accused since arrested were able to make pecuniary gains at the expense of the project/public exchequer. A breakdown of the funds transferred is: Lower Dir, Rs67.11 million; Upper Dir, Rs89.170 million. The accused were produced before Said Maroof, the judge of the Accountability Court No.1, and remanded in 14 days’ RAB custody.—APP