ISLAMABAD: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) approved on Monday three inquiries, including one against the special assistant to a former chief minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

The executive board meeting of the bureau presided over by NAB chief Qamar Zaman Chaudhry authorised an inquiry against Syed Masoom Shah, the special assistant to a former chief minister, and some other persons for their alleged involvement in corruption, corrupt practices and accumulation of assets beyond their known sources of income.

An inquiry was ordered against Mumtaz Ali Khan, former secretary of Workers Welfare Board, Balochistan, and Dr Ameer Mohammad Khan Jogezai, the chief executive officer of Kidney Centre, Quetta, and others.

These people were allegedly involved in embezzlement in the procurement of medical equipment and misappropriation of funds released for the Kidney Centre that caused a loss of Rs61 million to the national exchequer.

A case was approved against Prof Khuwaja Alqma and Malik Munir Hussain, vice chancellor and registrar of Bahuddin Zakariya University (BZU) Multan, respectively, and others.

These people were accused of misusing their authority for opening a campus of the BZU in Lahore without getting approval from the University Syndicate and a no-objection certificate from the Higher Education Commission.

They collected over Rs200 million in shape of admission fee from intending students.

In a case against Syed Ahmed Hussain Shah, a former minister for industries and commerce in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, officials of the Water and Power Develop­ment Authority, Peshawar Electric Supply Company and Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited and others, the board decided to re-authorise the inquiry. The suspects in the case are accused of using industrial plots for commercial purposes.

NAB also decided to investigate a case against authorities of Quetta Electric Supply Company (Qesco) and Pakistan Electric Power Company (Pepco). The suspects involved had allegedly made illegal appointments in Qesco.

The board decided to close inquiries against Mirza Sultan Mahmood Saleem, director of NAB, and Mohammad Naseem, secretary of P&D Department, Balochistan, for lack of incriminating evidence.

The meeting approved an application for voluntary return of Rs26m submitted by five accused in a case about illegal award of lease of Sports Complex at University Town Peshawar and ordered to initiate a departmental inquiry against Zakiullah, the then acting secretary of the Local Government & Rural Development Department, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Published in Dawn January 13th , 2015

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