September 14, 2002	Saturday	Rajab 6, 1423

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ISLAMABAD, Sept 13: An accountability court has granted 15 days remand of seven senior officers of the Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) involved in an embezzlement case.

Judge Mumtaz Hussain Shah of Accountability Court No I directed Mohammad Iqbal Baloch, the investigating officer and the assistant-director, Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), to produce the accused again on September 27.

The seven accused are Khalid Habib, ex-member technical PTCL; Arshad Badar, general manager (ITR) PTCL; Shahid Sethi, contractor M/s SGWI Lahore; Nasir Abbas, deputy general manager Lahore; Bashir Ahmad Chaudhry, senior accounts officer Lahore; Abdus Sattar, general manager Karachi and Khurshid Alam Farid, general manager finance PTCL, Islamabad.

The investigating officer told the court that raids were being conducted to arrest the other eight co-accused in the case.

The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Rawalpindi has accused them of inflicting a loss of Rs290 million to the national exchequer during the purchase of jointing material through Store Purchase Committee (SPC) on high prices.

Khalid Habib and Arshad Badar are facing charges of bypassing codal formalities of tenders in purchase of the jointing material. The remaining accused colluded towards short supply of jointing material causing colossal loss to the government.

The investigation into the case has revealed that Khalid Habib (principal culprit) ordered the purchase of jointing material on largescale from local suppliers M/s SGWI and National Engineers, Lahore amounting to Rs380 million. The purchases were made through the Store Purchase Committee which had powers to purchase for stores up to Rs750,000. The accused did not route the purchase through tender committee which was the right forum for largescale procurement.

APP adds: Meanwhile, as many as six officers of Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) have been promoted from Grade 19 to 20, said a notification issued here Friday.

They included Fazal-e-Bari, Bahadur Shah Qureshi, Hassan Jan, Hafeezul Islam, Ghulam Rasool Mangi and Inayatullah Khan.

The promotion of these officers, who have been made general manager/chief engineers, will take place with immediate effect or from the date they actually takeover charge of the higher post which ever is later.