LAHORE, Aug 2: National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has arrested three people for running an illegal medical college in Lahore. NAB Awareness and Prevention Director Brig Farooq Hameed (retired) told a press conference here on Thursday that Syed Muhammad Asif Bukhari, Malik Maqsood Ahmed and Muhammad Rafique Paracha were running the Al-Huda Medical College without seeking affiliation from Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) or University of Health Sciences (UHS), Lahore.

He said Asif, the chief executive of the college, was an under-Matric and in NAB’s judicial custody. He said college director Malik Maqsood Ahmed, who was just a matriculate, was also found running seven other illegal colleges issuing diplomas in Homeopathy and Tibb. He too was on physical remand with NAB.

He said Muhammad Rafique Paracha, the main financier of the college, had also been involved in the investigation.

He said the college enrolled more than 250 students in MBBS and charged more than Rs63 million from them as fees and other charges. He said the reference against the accused was in process and would soon be filed in an accountability court.

To a question, NAB director said that the first advertisement for admission in MBBS at the college was floated in an Urdu daily on July 2, 2000.

The PMDC, through a press release, informed the management of the college as well as the public on August 22, 2000, that the institute was not affiliated with the council.

He said the college kept on advertising its programme through newspapers and brochures etc and did not seek affiliation from the PMDC and UHS, Lahore.—APP