VEHARI, July 9: Three district education office (elementary) accounts department’s employees have allegedly appropriated Rs2 million by preparing fake documents.

Sources informed this correspondent on Wednesday that these officials prepared fake pension documents, using original stamps of the education department higher-ups, in the name of four teachers. They added that District Accounts Officer Abdul Rasheed Bhatti issued pension pay orders without any verification.

On receiving complaints about alleged fraud, DEO (elementary) Rana Muhammad Sarwar forwarded the case to the district accounts officer, who once again issued pay orders, but no one turned up to receive the amount.

According to the sources, accounts office pension clerk Muhammad Ramzan, education department clerk Muhammad Riaz and his relative Muhammad Asif were the main suspects in the case. The officer concerned had yet to take any action against them, they said.

These clerks prepared fake pension papers with the connivance of the accounts and education departments’ heads, alleged another source.

When contacted, the accounts officer said he had sent all the record to DPO Syed Javed Husain Shah for investigation. He added that the office had retrieved Rs300,000 so far and would recover the balance after investigation.

DEO (elementary) Rana Sarwar held the accounts office responsible for this fraud. However, he claimed to have sent the case to the Anti-Corruption Establishment.