LAHORE: National Acco­untability Bureau Chairman retired Justice Javed Iqbal has suspended an additional director from service for producing Punjab University’s former vice chancellor Prof Dr Mujahid Kamran and four other teachers in handcuffs before an accountability court and constituted a new team to investigate the charges against the five professors.

Presiding over a meeting at the bureau’s Lahore office on Wednesday, Mr Iqbal took strict notice of the incident and suspended additional director Muhammad Rafi from service. He also ordered an investigation into the matter.

He also recommended to the Punjab police chief to suspend ASI Mukhtar Ahmed in this case.

The NAB Lahore has sent all judicial guards back to their parent department (police) after the incident as it blamed them for presenting the suspects in handcuffs.

Prof Kamran, two former registrars, Prof Dr Raas Masood and Prof Dr Liaquat Ali, and two additional registrars, Prof Dr Aurangzaib Alamgir and Dr Kamran Abid, are facing charges of 550 illegal appointments in the Punjab University.

Prof Kamran is also accused of illegally appointing his second wife Dr Shazia Qureshi as principal of the Punjab University Law College and also awarding scholarships to ‘favourite’ students.

The NAB chairman constituted a new team to investigate the case of Prof Kamran and other suspects.

A delegation comprising teachers of Punjab University also called on him at the NAB office and assured him of their full cooperation with it in this case.

According to NAB, the chairman assured the visiting teachers of complete transparency in the probe against the five professors. “They (teachers) regretted a vilification campaign against the NAB’s Lahore director general after the arrest of the varsity teachers,” it said.

The chairman asked the visiting teachers to play their role in addressing the menace of corruption in educational institutions. He said NAB did not believe in victimisation of suspects as it was determined to fight corruption.

In the meeting with the bureau’s officials in Lahore, Mr Iqbal was briefed on progress on all mega corruption cases. He directed the officials to complete investigation within due course of time.

Published in Dawn, October 18th, 2018