KARACHI: Tension between the Board of Intermediate Education Karachi (BIEK) and the Sindh’s Enquiries and Anti-Corruption Establishment may deepen after the registration of 64 cases against as many students and several board employees, said a top official on Wednesday.

The provincial watchdog claimed to have found enough evidence from a laptop to trace the 64 cases of wrongdoings and malpractices at the BIEK.

In a recent raid, the anti-corruption establishment officials had seized the laptop from a clerk at the board office, said Ghulam Qadir Thebo, chairman of the enquiries and anti-corruption establishment. He said the BIEK had denied access to their complete record, making it more suspicious. The situation turned tense when the BIEK high-ups resisted the raid of the anti-corruption establishment and even approached the area police seeking security while citing “violent attitude” of the ACE team.

“So we got access to only one of the laptops being used by the daily-wage clerks at the BIEK,” said Mr Thebo while speaking to Dawn. “Yet we got enough from the single laptop that helped us in finding at least 64 cases of pre-medical examination where the students were benefited illegally. We found that there were students who couldn’t even pass the exams, but they were awarded very high marks.”

He said after a thorough examination of the evidence and corroborating them with the available proofs, the Enquiries and Anti-Corruption Establishment finally registered 64 FIRs against different people.

He added that based on the available evidence, the registration of the FIR could lead to the arrest of the suspects.

The BIEK authorities, meanwhile, said the situation had rendered it impossible for them to declare results by the deadline of admissions to higher education institutions.

The board officials further claimed that the office was at risk of losing 20-year data.The enquiries and anti-corruption establishment ruled out the allegations, saying its team had only checked the data of medical students at the BIEK’s record room, as the board authorities denied them access to their complete record.

“We have registered 64 cases against the students who were awarded marks through illegal means and the BIEK employees who did that job for those particular students,” said Mr Thebo.

“This all has not been done for free or any personal relationship. There is a network operating this system that has brought the education system to this level.”

Despite the fact that there are numerous complaints against different boards of education and other institutions in the province, he rejected the impression that his department was solely focusing the BIEK. He said the anti-corruption establishment would raid the offices of other boards of education as well on such reports.

Published in Dawn, August 18th, 2016