PESHAWAR: An accountability court on Saturday remanded into judicial custody Professor Mohammad Ayub, a medical expert with the Higher Education Regulatory Authority, on the charge of facilitating the functioning of an illegal medical college.

Professor Mohammad Ayub, who is also the former principal of Ayub Medical College, Abbottabad, was held by the National Accountability Bureau, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, in the case following the arrest of four educationists, including Abdul Wali Khan University Mardan Vice-Chancellor and former VC of Hazara University Dr Ihsan Ali, former VC of Hazara University Dr Syed Sakhawat Shah, Northern Institute of Medical Sciences Abbottabad chairman Dr Mohammad Aziz Khan and former Hera chairman Professor Hamayun Zia.

The NAB claimed the arrested men were involved in the misuse of authority and the cheating of public at large by luring students to get admission in the illegal and unregistered medical educational institution, NIMS, depriving their parents of more than Rs550 million.

Suspect Professor Mohammad Ayub was produced before accountability judge Mohammad Ibrahim Khan.

Professor Ayub faces charge of facilitating the functioning of illegal medical college

A NAB prosecutor said investigation into the case had already been completed and the suspect was not required for further interrogation.

The court sent the suspect to Peshawar Central Prison on 14-day judicial remand. The other four suspects have already been sent to prison on Aug 16.

The NAB alleged that during the inquiry, it surfaced that Professor Mohammad Ayub with mala fide intention recommended NIMS for registration with HERA in gross violation of the criteria after conducting inspection visit.

It alleged that he abetted with the other suspects in not only fleecing parents of their hard earned money but also played with the future of innocent students by wasting their precious time.

Earlier, the NAB has claimed that former VCs Professor Ihsan Ali and Professor Sakhawat Shah without any medical faculty and mandate as provided in the Khyber Medical University Act 2006 granted affiliation to NIMS Abbottabad with ulterior motives and conducted examination of the said illegal institute.

The inquiry reportedly discovered that suspect Dr Mohammad Aziz Khan was willfully involved in the illegal business for monitory gains by admitting students without any lawful mandate prior to recognition of the institute as envisaged in the Pakistan Medical and Dental College Ordinance 1962 and a judgment of the Supreme Court in 2007.

Further, suspect Hamayun Zia in connivance with others illegally registered NIMS by overlooking serious criteria for registration and also failed to pay periodic regulatory visits.

Published in Dawn, September 20th, 2015

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