December 10, 2007	Monday	Ziqa'ad 29, 1428

MUZAFFARABAD, Dec 9: An official of the AJK Ehtesab Bureau (AJKEB) has recorded statements of more than three dozen people in connection with alleged embezzlement in distribution of charity money meant for widows, orphans, the disabled and other survivors of the Oct 2005 earthquake.

Deputy Director Mohammad Latif Awan was also reported to have interviewed several political leaders of Dhirkot — the hometown of AJK Prime Minister Sardar Attique Ahmed Khan —over the past two days as part of investigations into the matter which has deeply shocked people in the region.

The inquiry revolves around Zulfiqar Abbasi, president of the AJK Chamber of Commerce and Industry, who distributed more than Rs55 million among people on behalf of a wealthy Saudi philanthropist whose identity is unknown.

Mr Abbasi, who hails from Dhirkot, faces serious allegations of doling out the money on the basis of favouritism and political considerations. Recipients include a good number of his close relations who and many others had been wrongly shown as widows, handicapped or destitute to justify payment of Rs86,410 to each individual. There were also complaints that many people whose names were on the list of 635 ‘recipients’ had not received any money.

The matter was initially referred to the AJKEB for probe by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) of Pakistan last year. However, investigations began reportedly after Raja Sajjad Ahmed, a member of AJK Bar Council from Dhirkot, collected details about the embezzlement from several villages and forwarded the same to the AJKEB about three months ago.

Although, according to initial reports, the number of deserving or undeserving beneficiaries stood at 635, but sources in the EB say they have discovered that the charity fund had been claimed for 1039 people.