MIRPURKHAS: A team of the National Accountability Bureau, Karachi, aided by police commandos raided the Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education (BISE) Mirpurkhas office on Wednesday over growing complaints about gross irregularities and embezzlement of billions of rupees of funds.

The NAB team headed by a director whose name could not be ascertained cordoned off the board premises and did not let anybody enter or leave the building during the raid.

Several employees who were busy working despite the official holiday managed to flee on seeing the NAB sleuths but many others at the establishment branch and a number of other branches were detained.

The team remained in the building for five hours during which they collected relevant record and also interrogated officers and officials. The board officials handed over the record to the NAB officials after which the team sealed the establishment branch and left, said sources in the board.

The sources said the NAB Karachi office had received several complaints about gross irregularities and corruption amounting to billions of rupees in the BISE.

About a year ago, the Sindh chief minister had ordered an inquiry into allegations of misappropriation of funds and irregularities in the board on a demand raised by the All Pakistan Clerks Association while the Mirpurkhas commissioner had formed an inquiry committee on district level that conducted the probe and furnished its report to the chief minister.

The report unveiled embezzlement of billions of rupees and gross irregularities by officers and officials of the Mirpurkhas BISE and recommended a thorough probe by NAB because of magnitude of corruption.

Over the last four years, billions of rupees were misappropriated and many illegal appointments were made in the board while several favourite employees were illegally promoted, said the sources.

Published in Dawn, June 25th, 2015

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