NAWABSHAH: The Federal Investigation Agency on Thursday booked as many as 86 officials of Hyderabad Electric Supply Company (Hesco), National Bank of Pakistan and Habib Bank Limited on charges of embezzling more than Rs1 billion though fraud in Hesco’s salaries fund account.

FIA Composite Circle Shaheed Benazirabad’s deputy director Afroze Kalwar confirmed that two separate FIRs (No’s 23 and 24 of 2024) were lodged against the 86 officials under Sections 409, 420, 468, 471, 477-A, 109 of Pakistan Penal Code and r/w 5(2) of Prevention of Corruption Act 1947. The amount exceeding Rs1 billion was encashed through forgery and fraud in salaries, he said, adding 17 of the suspects had already been arrested.

The 86 officials included Hesco Chief Finance Officer Hina Talpur, executive engineers Deedar Ali Rind, Nazakat Ali Memon, Inam Ali Abro, Rasheed Ahmed Ansari and Aqeel Ahmed Memon; CPC Hesco Manager Finance Deen Mohammad, Hesco Hyderabad Internal Auditor Zulfiqar Ali Memon, Internal Auditor Abdul Hafeez, Hesco Divisional Accounts Officer Mohammed Ismail Jakhrani and other officials of Hesco and NBP and HBL branches of Nawabshah, Sanghar and Hyderabad, who committed the financial crime during 2017 and 2023.

Sources in FIA disclosed that despite clear circulars and SOPs, salaries were encashed and transferred to private persons’ accounts. A total of 17 accused had been arrested and detained under eight­-day remand after which they were produced on Thursday in the court of judicial magistrate-II of Nawabshah which remanded them again in judicial custody, they said, adding the suspects were shifted to Nawabshah district jail.

Suspects embezzled over Rs1bn, officials say

Babar Ali Dahiri, FIA Shaheed Benazirabad’s investigation officer and inquiry team member Adnan Peter Joseph said that the suspects including Deen Mohammad, Ghulam Mohammad, Syed Shamsul Hassan Zaidi, Abdul Hafeez, Naeem Khalid, Abdul Nasir Khan, Humayun Beenish, Babar Hameed, Attaullah, Ghulam Yaseen, Afzal Ahmad and others were sent to Nawabshah district jail.

The fraud was unearthed after an internal audit conducted by Hesco and FIA in the wake of an inquiry launched on the basis of a source report after which the FIRs were registered. The cases would further by pursued by Anti Corruption Cell of FIA Circle Hyderabad, said the sources.

Published in Dawn, March 22nd, 2024