JHELUM: The inquiry into the financial corruption worth Rs29 million in the Tehsil Municipal Administration of Jhelum was completed on Monday, while a report against seven of its officers has been sent to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) for further investigation and recovery of embezzled amount.

It was decided by the investigation committee that the embezzled amount would be recovered from three Tehsil Municipal Officers (TMOs), two Tehsil officers of finance, one revenue inspector and one tax clerk.

DawnNews also has the copy of the written order sent to the administration for the forced retirement and dismissal of the accused along with the inquiry report.

The Tehsil Municipal Administration, Jhelum, which was gaining millions of rupees as monthly tax recovery, had reportedly stopped paying the salaries of current employees and pensions of retired persons since June 2013.

The employees had started a protest over non-payment of salaries.

Taking notice of the issue, District Coordination Officer (DCO) Jhelum Chaudhry Zulfiqar Ahmed Ghuman ordered an audit of the finance section of TMA Jhelum.

A committee was formed for the audit and within only a few months, it unearthed corruption worth millions of rupees and compiled a list comprising the seven officers involved.

Among the accused were TMOs Chaudhry Rashid Minhas, Azhar Majeed Zafar and Zahid Imran, Tehsil Officers Finance Imran Khalid and Rana Rashid Ahmed, Revenue Inspector Abdul Ghafoor Butt and Tax Clerk Faisal Nadeem Khan.

The list was sent to DCO Jhelum, who forwarded the inquiry report to the Punjab Local Government Complex, Lahore for further investigation.

The corruption worth Rs29 million was carried out in just nine months, from July 2013 to April 2014, and the audit was ordered of the same period of time.

The suspects, in an attempt to escape their corruption charges, submitted Rs 10 million instead of the actual embezzled amount to the national exchequer.

A two-member committee comprising Additional Director General Audit and Accounts Makhdoom Ali Zaidi as convener and Director Accounts Wasim Mubarak as member, decided to forward the report to NAB for the recovery of the remaining amount.