March 25, 2003	Tuesday	Muharram 21, 1424

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ISLAMABAD, March 24: A man had to go through an ordeal of over eight years in a petty case due to outdated audit procedures and tricky investigation system.

This not only exposes the lengthy bureaucratic procedure of tackling things, but also disproves the claims of transparency and efficacy of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB)of curbing white-collar corruption.

This system not only made an innocent man suffer mental torture, but also got suspended the execution of a project for over eight years.

A case of “bungling” and “utilization of inferior quality material” in the Federal Board Of Intermediate and Secondary Education (FBISE) auditorium building was filed against Abdul Hameed, then an audit officer and now assistant secretary, administration, in the board for deficiency of a paltry amount of Rs500 in the project. The case is still pending with NAB.

The auditorium was inaugurated by Education Minister Ms Zobaida Jalal on Saturday at the FBISE premises.

Ms Jalal apologized the man for the agony he suffered. “This is very unfortunate and depicts the sorry tale how things are done in the government sector,” the minister said, adding that nothing could compensate the mental torture, the man had gone through.

The FBISE avoided to name the anonymous complainant, who has already faced divine justice, as he had died.

The FIA in 1995 investigated the case for two years, but had to close the file since it failed to collect substantial evidence against the accused.

Later, the audit branch of the Accountant General of Pakistan Revenue (AGPR), raised some objections, but the board failed to give any satisfactory reply to the auditors.

As a result, Abdul Hameed had to go through constant mental torture since he had to appear time and again before various officials to clarify his position. The matter was referred to NAB in 2002.

The FBISE in 1993 had decided to construct the auditorium and a guest house. The initial project cost was estimated at Rs13.5 million.

The contract was awarded to a private firm which started construction work in December 1993.