ISLAMABAD: The Ministry of Science and Technology (MoST) has restarted a departmental inquiry into financial irregularities in the Pakistan Standard and Quality Control Authority (PSQCA), an arm of the ministry, Following the National Accountability Bureau’s (NAB) notice of a corruption case.
According to documents available with Profit, the ministry has constituted another committee of two members including Chief Finance and Account Officer Shehzad Naeem and accounts officer Nawaz Ahmed Khan to conduct an internal audit of the receipts, investment and expenditure of PSQCA, Karachi, for the financial year 2010-11 (FY21) to 2021-22 (FY22).
Officials privy to the matter informed Profit that the committee visited the officials regularly from July 5 to July 8 to investigate the matter and would be submit their findings to the ministry soon. However, the team has not included over 55 suspicious transactions made during 2014 to 2020 involving over a billion rupees.
Interestingly, MoST had earlier constituted a similar committee to investigate the same case but without any gain. Following audit reports by the Auditor General of Pakistan (AGP) regarding massive financial irregularities and illegal appointments at PSQCA, the ministry, in January 2022, had constituted a committee to probe into the matter.
The committee comprising of MoST CAFO Shahzad Naeem and assistant accounts officer Adeel Ahmad was supposed to conduct an inquiry regarding financial and administrative mismanagement allegedly committed by PSQCA Deputy Director Finance Ali Muhammad Bukhari, who is currently on an extended forced leave.
An insider informed this scribe that high officials involved in corruption are trying to protect the main culprit to save their own skin. “The new committee is likely to propose meager punishment like demotion and recovery of some amount from the main culprit instead of initiating a formal investigation and legal proceeding.” they said.
“It seems like the committee’s constitution had been pre-planned plan to give a safe passage to the officials involved in the mega financial corruption, which is evident from the banking transactions and other documents,” they claimed.
Earlier while taking notice of complaints registered by employees of PSQCA against Ali Muhammad Bukhari, NAB Rawalpindi had asked MoST to provide related information, documents and records of officials allegedly involved in financial and administrative irregularities and corruption cases.
The complainants have requested NAB to conduct an inquiry and forensic audit of accounts of PSQCA as they suspect suspicious transactions and financial embezzlement worth over a billion rupees.
As per available documents, Bukhari made over 55 suspicious transactions worth millions of rupees from 2014 to 2017 from various accounts of NBP stating that it was for investment in PSQCA. The transactions were suspicious and made in cash which is against GFR rules and violation of government directives.
Apart from these transactions, Bukhari, who served in the finance department of PSQCA from 2008 to 2022, is also allegedly involved in financial irregularities regarding reinvestment worth billions of rupees in various branches of NBP in term deposit receipts (TDRs).
In addition, it has also been alleged that he got two of his sisters, brother and his niece appointed in the PSQCA.
Officials at MoST, when contacted, did not respond to queries about the case.
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اَلسَلامُ عَلَيْكُم وَرَحْمَةُ اَللهِ وَبَرَكاتُهُ
ماشاءاللہ
غلام عباس صاحب اپکی تحریر اپکی شخصیت کا آٸینہ ھے اپکا قلم قرطاس پر جسطرح معاشرے کے عیب اور براٸیوں کی اصلاح و روک تھام کا ضامن ھے بے شک اپ نے قلم کی نوک کو تیز دھار تلوار میں منتقل کیا ھوا ھے یہ اپکا ھی خاصہ ھے دعا گو ھوں اس حق و صداقت کے قلم میں خون جگر سیاھی کی مانند شعور و اگاھی ضامن ھے سلامت رھیں بے شمار دعاٸیں