August 29, 2003	Friday	Jumadi-us-Sani 30, 1424

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ISLAMABAD, Aug 28: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Thursday arrested former secretary Syed Naseer Ahmad and ex-director-general Shahid Ahmad of the petroleum ministry for corruption committed in connivance with each other and causing a Rs239.8 million loss to the national exchequer, a NAB official said.

He said here on Thursday that references were also made against 10 other officials of the ministry of grade 18 and above who would also be arrested soon by the bureau in similar cases of corruption.

“This sort of high-level corruption cannot be committed without the involvement of the officials concerned of different ranks,” the official added.

He said warrants for the arrest of the secretary and director-general were issued on Wednesday and they were picked up in Islamabad on Thursday.

A NAB investigation revealed that the accused former secretary and a principal accounting officer of the ministry endorsed illegal gallop tenders giving very short time to other bidders for submission and preparation of bids.

“This was done to prevent genuine international bidders from participating, and thus favouring pre-scheduling companies. It also resulted in over-pricing, which caused a loss of Rs105 million to the national exchequer, the NAB official said.

He said the former director-general, being a member of the board of directors of the Oil and Gas Development Corporation (OGDC), also favoured some firms by awarding them big contracts and causing a Rs133.8 million loss to the exchequer.

“The director-general, being a technical expert, was required to scrutinize all the cases referred by the OGDC and submit to the secretary with recommendations for his (secretary) consideration,” the official said.

The NAB official said that being a technical expert of the ministry, the director-general had not raised any objection to the gallop tenders and very short time frame given to the bidders.

Thus the international tender bidding criteria was negated and favourite contractors were given an opportunity to get the contracts at enhanced prices, the official said.

The director-general, who is currently working as a consultant in a private gas company in Islamabad, had allegedly recommended the case for import authorization on the basis of irregular letter of awards issued by the OGDC, in violation of ministry’s instructions.