PESHAWAR: An accountability court here on Friday remanded an owner of two firms in the custody of the National Accountability Bureau for seven days in a high-profile multi-billion rupees medicines and surgical equipment procurement case.

Judge Mohammad Hamid Mughal directed officials of the NAB Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to re-produce suspect Kamran Anjum on July 10 after completion of his remand period.

A few days ago, the court rejected the bail plea of former director general (health services) Dr Shaukat Ali, who was arrested in the case on April 8, 2026.

The NAB KP had started an inquiry a few months ago into the much-publicised case wherein Dr Shaukat and several other officials of the health department were accused of grossly violating procurement processes during the purchase of medicines in the last caretaker government of the province.

IO insists accused caused Rs1.034bn loss to kitty

The initial probe by NAB and an earlier inquiry conducted by the provincial government claimed that funds embezzlement or loss to the exchequer had been established against the purchase of medicines, surgical equipment and other items to the tune of Rs4.4 billion.

Additional director and investigation officer of NAB Israrul Haq and special prosecutor Habibullah Baig appeared before the court along with the accused Kamran Anjum.

They said that the accused was the owner of firms Shad Traders and JSK Medica.

According to the officers, the investigation regarding corruption, embezzlement and corrupt practices in procurement of medicines under the Medicine Coordination Cell 2023-24 of the health department is under process in NAB KP. They claimed that during inquiry or investigation it had been revealed that the present accused through his firms managed to obtain supply orders worth Rs1.516 Billion.

The officials alleged that Rs1.508 billion was illegally released in his favour out of which Rs1.01 billion was paid within a week of the issuance of the supply order.

They added the accused had so far caused a loss of Rs1.034 billion to the exchequer by submitting fake or bogus delivery challans and through non- or short supply of medicines and disposable items, including examination gloves worth Rs983.5 million.

The officials said that the investigation was at a critical stage and the accused was required to be confronted with voluminous documentary evidence, including supply orders, fake delivery challans, payment vouchers and bank transaction records.

They sought 15 days physical custody of the accused.

The counsel for the accused opposed the plea, arguing that his client had already joined the inquiry or investigation and was fully cooperating with the NAB.

He said that his client had also submitted an application to the relevant quarter for granting the status of approver in the case.

The court finally decided to grant his physical custody to the NAB for seven days, ordering his pre- and post-custody medical examination.

After initial inquiry, the NAB KP claimed that a payment of Rs3.17 billion was made without physical inspection of procured goods. It added that the majority of the payment was made without obtaining the standard test report from the Drug Testing Laboratory, which was an essential prerequisite before initiating processing of bills.

Published in Dawn, July 4th, 2026