GUJRAT: A senior official of the audit section in the district accounts office has been dismissed from service for negligence and abetment in embezzlement of Rs16.3 million from the accounts of the district jail while five more officials have also been awarded minor punishments.

The Accountant General Punjab has issued the order for dismissal of Muhammad Ashraf, the auditor in district accounts office, from service whereas increments of at least five other officials of the accounts office have been stopped for negligence that resulted in embezzlement of the salaries of the jail staff.

The main suspect in the case, Sohail Ahmed, an accountant in the jail, has been under suspension for the last four months as the case is being investigated by the Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE) that is yet to register the case. The sources told Dawn that the scam was unearthed in August/September 2017 when the authorities came to know that the accountant of the district jail had committed massive irregularities to withdraw the salaries against the names of the jail officials who had quit their jobs as well as withdrawal of other allowances in the names of some serving officials.

The practice had started in 2014 by Sohail who continued withdrawing salaries and allowances of the staff till August 2017 when the scam surfaced after junior officials of the jail tipped the higher authorities that the accountant had been withdrawing the amounts from their accounts.

However, upon further probe, it was learnt that Rs16.3m had been withdrawn by Sohail. Moreover, some officials of the district accounts office were suspected of abetment in the crime. Despite being a junior clerk in the district jail, he had become a blue-eyed official of the jail administration that had elevated him to the post of accountant.

The prisons department suspended Sohail from service and referred the matter to the ACE for further legal action. The then superintendent of Gujrat jail has been transferred from the post and he is still awaiting posting due to the pending inquiry into the scam.

The district accounts office has so far recovered Rs8m, including Rs1.6m that was recovered from the possession of Sohail as well as from the accounts of those jail officials whose allowances had unlawfully been withdrawn during a certain period.

The Accountant General Punjab had launched an inquiry into the scam for the alleged involvement of accounts officials.

Published in Dawn, January 21st, 2018