TAXILA: Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE) Rawalpindi region Director Arif Raheem on Friday said the department had extended its net to catch big fish involved in land grabbing through bogus papers, government officials living beyond known sources of income and extortion of money from citizens by police and revenue department officials.

Talking to newsmen, Mr Raheem said during the last six months 883 complaints were received against officers of government departments while investigations were held on 577 complaints.

He said that in 2017 the ACE had received a total of 1,207 public complaints against officers of government departments while inquiries were held in 703 of the complaints. He said cases were registered against 135 corrupt officials while 138 suspects were arrested.

He said the ACE on Wednesday arrested Sohail Maqbool, a former tehsildar of Rawalpindi Settlement, for allegedly tampering with the land record of a citizen.

Earlier, the ACE while resolving illegal transfer case of nearly 1,000 kanal land arrested six people, including Fatehjang’s record assistant director Abdul Majeed, allegedly involved in a fraud. He said the ACE had also initiated an inquiry against officers of the Rawalpindi Municipal Corporation over the construction of illegal plazas on Murree Road.

Mr Raheem said ACE officers held open courts in all 24 tehsils of the division to listen to public complaints against government officers.

Published in Dawn, August 11th, 2018