MULTAN: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Friday suspended three officers from its Multan office, including Additional Director (Staff) Ahmed Mumtaz Bajwa, over allegations of taking bribe worth Rs10.5 million.

According to a notification issued by Additional Director (Planning and Management) Imran Sohail, the officers have been suspended for three months under Section 11.4 of the NAB Employees’ Terms and Conditions of Service 2002 on charges of corruption and misconduct. Assistant directors Ali Arsalan and Faisal Manzoor are the other officers who have been suspended besides Bajwa.

In his complaint to the NAB chairman against four officers of NAB Multan -- Bajwa, Arsalan, Manzoor and Aleem Liaquat, Bahawalpur Highways Department Executive Engineer (Exen) Farrukh Mumtaz stated that during the wheat procurement season of 2017, Bajwa asked Mumtaz’s brother Tanvir Nusrat Warraich, the Bahawalpur district food inspector, to accommodate a mill owner Rana Luqman, who had demanded 10,000 gunny bags.

Upon refusal by Warraich, Bajwa initiated an inquiry against him on a self-generated application. He was also asked to reconsider his refusal. He discussed the situation with his brother and they contacted Irrigation EXEN Rana Afzal, the brother-in-law of Luqman who also shared his official residence here with Bajwa.

Afzal demanded Rs7 million on behalf of Bajwa and arranged a meeting between the brothers and investigation officer Arsalan, who assured them the inquiry would be closed after they paid the amount.

Mumtaz claimed that Rs7m were handed over to Afzal in three installments. But after three months, the inquiry against Warraich was converted into an investigation, as Afzal told them the NAB director general (DG) had found out about the deal. However, Bajwa had said he would resolve the matter and Afzal, who returned Rs4m, assured them that they would not be arrested and there would be no reference against them.

He said later Aleem Liaquat was made the investigation officer who, along with Assistant Director Manzoor, offered to resolve the matter through their ‘front man’ Abdul Ahad. The brothers met Manzoor and were asked to arrange Rs2.5m immediately. The amount was paid in two installments as well as Rs1m for Liaquat.

Mumtaz stated that despite all assurances, his brother was arrested, alleging that the NAB also raided their houses and robbed them of valuables. He requested the NAB chairman to take action against the officers and private people involved.

On April 23, a two-member team of the NAB had reached Multan, recorded statements and collected record; however the audio and video recordings made during the interrogation of Warraich were found missing when the committee demanded them. They were later recovered from Multan intelligence wing in-charge Qaisar Mahmood and sent to the NAB headquarters for forensic test.

Meanwhile, Mumtaz claimed that to pressurise him, the NAB Multan had initiated a probe against him on corruption charges and on March 20, the bureau wrote a letter to the provincial communication and works secretary to provide all the record about him by March 26. The matter was later referred to the Anti-Corruption Establishment, Bahawalpur.

Published in Dawn, May 25th, 2019