DADU, Oct 1: The FIA have booked seven officials of the Pakistan Telecommunication Limited (PTCL), Dadu Division, and five of them have been arrested in a fraud case of millions of rupees.
Acording to sources, analogue exchanges at various towns including Khairpur Nathan Shah, Mehar, Radhan, Sita, Johi, and Dadu were incurring a loss between Rs300,000 and Rs400,000 every month since 1994.
Sources alleged that millions of rupees on the head of maintenance of the telephone exchanges and petrol funds had also been embezzled every month through fake vouchers. These sources maintained that as in Nawabshah, mini-telephone exchanges business was also running high llegally at various towns with the connivance of the local PTCL officials. This practice was continuing since the establishment of the PTCL, Dadu Division, on June 28, 1994.
When Syed Dost Ali Shah was appointed as DE, Telephone, he raided telephone exchanges in Sehwan, Sita, and Mehar and found 12 meters of telephone numbers closed at Sehwan, five at Sita, and four at Mehar. These numbers belonged to some politicians and influential businessmen. Mr Shah wrote a letter to the FIA branch, Hyderabad, to lodge cases against the corrupt officials of the telephone department.
When the investigation was initiated against officials of the department, they managed to have the inquiries by the FIA branch, Hyderabad, stopped and had the DE, Telephone, transferred. These officials were said to have close links with the then Sindh chief minister, Syed Abdullah Shah.
After two months, on the directives of Syed Abdullah Shah, five cases under various types of crimes were registered at the Rohri Taluka police station against the former DE, Telephone, Syed Dost Ali Shah. He was arrested for a day and was released on the intervention of PPP leader Syed Qaim Ali Shah.
The FIA, Hyderabad, could not complete this enquiry for seven years. Finally, on the directives of senior officials belonging to the Pakistani army, the enquiry was sent to the deputy director, FIA, State Bank circle, Karachi, on Sept 1 this year.
Later, after the completion of this enquiry, the FIA on the complaint of the former DE, Telephone, Syed Dost Ali Shah, registered an FIR (No7/2001) on Sept 17 on charges of embezzlement of millions of rupees against seven officials of the telephone department including Abdul Rehman Pathan (supervisor, Mehar Telephone Exchange), Koral Khan (wireman, Mehar Telephone Exchange), Zaman (wireman, Sehwan Telephone Exchange), Ratto Khan (operator, Sita Telephone Exchange), Mujahid (technician, Khairpur Nathan Shah Telephone Exchange), Ghulam Rasool (cleaner, Thana Bula Khan), and Ghulam Nabi Babar (DE, Telephone, Hyderabad).
DE optical fibre division construction was cited as a witness in the case.
On Sept 22, the investigation officer of the FIA, State Bank circle, Karachi sub-inspector, Malik M Azam, wrote a letter to the DE, Telephone, Dadu, through the general manager of Telephones, STR-V, Sukkur, to appear in his office to explain as to when the accused were going to be produced in the FIA office, Karachi.
Five of them Abdul Rehman Pathan (supervisor, Mehar Telephone Exchange), Koral Khan (wireman, Mehar Telephone Exchange), Zaman (wireman, Sehwan Telephone Exchange), Ratto Khan (operator, Sita Telephone Exchange), and Mujahid (technician, Khairpur Nathan Shah Telephone Exchange) were arrested by the FIA in due course of time.
The remaining two accused Ghulam Rasool (cleaner, Thana Bula Khan), and Ghulam Nabi Babar (DE, Telephone, Hyderabad) are still at large.
Meanwhile, the FIA, Karachi, have also got a four-day remand of the accused from a court in Hyderabad.
The general manager, PTCL, STR-V, Sukkur, two days ago visited some telephone exchanges of Dadu District and initiated departmental enquiry regarding various matters.
On being contacted, the DE, Telephone, Dadu, confirmed the arrest of some PTCL officials saying that the FIA had initiated enquiry against them.
Regarding the inflated bills of Rs500 package-phone connections, the DE said that on the orders of senior officials the telephone department had been receiving Rs868 per month and all bills of the package would be corrected.