PESHAWAR: An accountability court here on Wednesday granted bail to a public works department sub-engineer arrested by the National Accountability Bureau on charges of misusing authority in execution of development schemes in Mohmand district.

Judge Naveed Khan accepted the petition of Zuhaibullah on condition of furnishing two surety bonds of Rs10 million each.

NAB, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had arrested the petitioner on June 2 for misusing authority and making fake and fraudulent entries in measurement book for the work which had not been done.

It was alleged that payment of Rs346 million was made to the contractor in a project of water supply schemes under Sustainable Development Goals Achievement Programme in Mohmand district.

Petitioner’s counsel Ashfaq Daudzai stated that the matter was referred to NAB by the chairman Senate Standing Committee on Safron (State and Frontier Regions).

He contended that while several other officers of PWD had also been charged in the instant case, the investigation agency had not investigated this issue properly.

He argued that this was an ongoing scheme and had yet not been completed. He stated that the scheme had to be completed in six months’ time, but NAB had started investigation after two months of its starting.

The counsel contended that the officers could be held liable for any irregularity if the scheme had been completed and they had given final report about its completion.

Published in Dawn, July 7th, 2022