ISLAMABAD: The elite Islamabad Club has suspended the corporate membership of National Endowment Scholarships for Talent (NEST) and returned Rs25 million to the said organisation.

In response to a news report, the management of the Islamabad Club stated that the new committee of the Islamabad Club “detected illegal corporate membership of National Endowment Scholarships for Talent, a government-owned organisation under Section 42 of Companies Ordinance, established through public funds and reported the matter to the prime minister”.

The statement claimed that the administrator of the Islamabad Club immediately suspended the membership of the staff of NEST and highlighted this matter to the Ministry of Education.

The management of the club went on to state that government funds amounting to Rs25 million which were wrongly used for obtaining corporate membership of the club while concealing facts and the non-profit charter of NEST have been refunded.

It may be mentioned that the additional secretary of the Ministry of Education and Professional Training heads NEST as its CEO. The board headed by former education minister Shafqat Mehmood approved the corporate membership of NEST. The subsequent approvals for the issuance of complimentary cards and the release of Rs25 million were allegedly granted by additional secretaries Mohiyuddin Wani and Asim Iqbal, respectively. Mr Wani is currently working as Gilgit-Baltistan chief secretary and Mr Iqbal is posted in the Cabinet Division.

The prime minister’s spokesperson told Dawn that the PM’s Office ordered an inquiry into this matter that led to the termination of the four NEST officials. He did not disclose what action was being taken against senior bureaucrats who accorded approvals for the membership.

According to the sources in the Establishment Division, Mr Wani was facing scrutiny. The Ministry of Education and Professional Training shared the documents related to the approvals of membership with the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) for forensic analysis to ascertain the authenticity of his signatures, they added. The ministry also sought suspension of Mr Iqbal.

It may be noted here that two senior bureaucrats are in hot water and four key officials of the National Endowment Scholarships for Talent have been dismissed from service for splurging at least Rs25 million to acquire membership in the elite Islamabad Club.

The board of directors (BOD) in its meeting held on Nov 3, 2021 approved corporate membership for NEST and initially nominated four executive officers, namely Athar Hussain Zaidi, Faysal Qasim, Qamar Safdar and Quratulain Talha for issuance of complimentary cards for the club membership. The BOD had also approved that the “monthly subscription charges [of the executives] shall be paid by the company [NEST]”.

Published in Dawn, January 12th, 2023