ISLAMABAD: If a petition filed with the Islamabad High Court (IHC) is to be believed, the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) authorities made two airmen a ‘scapegoat’ to exonerate senior officers in a Rs6.4 million fraud case.

The petition filed by corporal technician Mohammad Irfan through his counsel retired Lt-Col Inamur Rahim, seeking documents related to his court martial proceedings, claimed that despite the alleged involvement of the officers the PAF authorities did not implicate them in the case.

The case was related to the alleged embezzlement of Rs6.4 million at the Nur Khan Airbase, Chaklala. As per the investigation, from November 2011 to December 2013, the airmen - Irfan and senior technician Sohail - allegedly embezzled Rs6,487,299. A report prepared by the board of inquiry (BoI) was finalised in June 2014.

The PAF authorities in 2014 charged Sohail and Irfan with “processing fake claims of allowances of Internal Security (IS) and Operational Area Ration allowances.”

In February this year, Sohail filed an identical petition with the Lahore High Court (LHC), Rawalpindi bench. During the hearing of that case, the PAF authorities on April 16 submitted a report to the court about the case.

The report stated that the board of inquiry “has also blamed the Imprest holders, paying staff and adjutant No 246 Squadron (Flight Lt. M. Arif) for their respective lapses. The case would be put up to the Air Staff for perusal.”

An Imprest holder is usually the head of establishment in a unit - normally a commanding officer. The formations are called the Imprest accountholders. The paying staff is the senior officers having financial powers in the base. They can be a flight lieutenant or a squadron leader.

The report claimed that after the initiation of the inquiry, both the technicians deserted the service.

Irfan in his petition before the IHC alleged that the BoI had blamed the Imprest accountholders, paying staff and Arif for their involvement in the case. However, he added, instead of taking any action against the officers, the authorities made the petitioner a scapegoat.

He informed the court that his job was to only maintain the accounts and he was the one “who pointed out the discrepancy to his commanding officer but was ordered to remain quiet.”

The petition stated that Irfan later deserted the service but was caught by the PAF authorities in March last year.

The petition requested the court to direct the PAF authorities to provide all the trial-related documents to the petitioner. It also requested the court to ask the authorities concerned to release the pay and allowances of the petitioner from the date of his detention.

IHC Justice Noorul Haq N. Qureshi after preliminary hearing of the petition issued pre-admission notices to the PAF authorities and adjourned further proceedings till a date to be fixed by the registrar office.

Published in Dawn, August 25th, 2015

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