ISLAMABAD: The executive board of the National Accountability Bureau, at a meeting on Wednesday, approved conduct of nine inquiries against different personalities, including PPP MNA Syed Khursheed Ahmed Shah and former governor of Khyber Paktunkhwa Sardar Mehtab Ahmed Khan and four investigations against different government departments and ordered closure of some inquiries owing to lack of evidence.

According to a press release, NAB Chairman retired justice Jawed Iqbal presided over the meeting which approved filing of a corruption reference against Syed Ikramullah Shah, former executive engineer, operations, Fata circle, Tribal Electric Supply Company (Tesco), for causing Rs49.07 million losses to the national exchequer by granting illegal power connections to various steel mills by misusing his authority.

The meeting also approved conduct of nine inquiries against Khursheed Shah, Mehtab Khan, Khalid Sherdil, former secretary of industries, Punjab, and others; Mohammad Iqbal Khan, SDFO, Mingora sub-division of forest department, and others; certain officers and officials of Auqaf Department of KP; management of education department, Quetta; officers and officials of the provincial highway development division, Khairpur; Munawwar Nazir Abbasi, former chief executive officer of Sukkur Electric Power Supply Company, and others; and officials of the public health division and highway department of Punjab.

Anti-graft body decides to file corruption reference against a former official of Tesco

The NAB board also approved the conduct of four investigations against the management of the Oil and Gas Development Company Limited, officials of Privatisation Commission and Trust Investment Bank, officials and officers of the information and broadcasting ministry and others and officials of Galiyat Development Authority, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and others.

The meeting also decided to send an inquiry against officials and officers of finance department, KP, to the chief secretary of the province for special audit.

It approved transfer of an inquiry against Professor Dr Mohammad Noor Wazir and officials of Khyber Medical College, Peshawar, to the relevant university; shifting of other inquiries against officials of Shaheed Benazir Bhutto Women University, Peshawar, and others, and Farooq Bazai, vice chancellor, Balochistan University of Information Technology, Engineering and Management Sciences, and others to the Higher Education Commission, an inquiry against officials of Galiyat Development Authority to Anti-Corruption Establishment, KP, an inquiry against Dr Allah Ditta Raza Chaudhry to GC University, Lahore, for special audit and inquiries against management and officials of Capital Market Management Company, Rawalpindi and Gujranwala, to the Punjab local government department.

The NAB board also approved closure of inquiries against Syed Tanveer-ul-Hassan Gillani, former federal minister and president of Anjuman Islamia, and others, MNA Iftikhar Gillani, Dr Shahid Mehboob, former vice chancellor, GC University, Faisalabad, and others, Afzal Bhatti, commissioner, Overseas Pakistanis Commission, Punjab, and others, Fazal Sheikh, director finance, Quest, and others due to absence of evidence.

The NAB chairman vowed to take cases of white-collar crime to their logical conclusion and said the anti-graft body was utilising all available resources to punish the corrupt elements and proclaimed offenders.

Published in Dawn, August 1st, 2019