ISLAMABAD: A discreet inquiry by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) found complaints of corruption and misuse of authority against one of its own top officials, warranting a thorough investigation. A decision to launch an investigation into the matter, however, was mysteriously reversed within three days.

According to sources, NAB found itself in an awkward position after receiving a plethora of complaints against retired Col Subah Sadiq Malik, its regional director general for Rawalpindi, and in the absence of a chairman decided to approach the law ministry. A letter written with the approval of the deputy chairman, expressing helplessness of the bureau’s officials in seeking an explanation from the BPS-21 official and requesting ‘appropriate action’ was sent to the ministry on Sept 9 with a summary of allegations levelled at the regional director general spread over 321 pages.

However, the documents were withdrawn through another letter written to the ministry on Sept 12.

The long list of allegations included in the summary pointed to the official’s involvement in corruption and violating rules and laws.

The ‘unauthorised’ acceptance of voluntary return of Rs580 million from the central character of the modaraba scam, Mufti Ehsanul Haq, and closure of inquiries against former CDA chairman Kamran Lashari and ex-secretary of the ministry of housing and works, G.M. Sikandar, were mentioned in the report.

“All these actions taken by the DG, NAB, were objected to by the operations division, NAB headquarters, and it was pointed out that the regional office cannot use the powers that rest with the chairman. In response, realising the misuse of authority, the closure of inquiries against Kamran Lashari and G.M. Sikandar was withdrawn and referred to the NAB headquarters for disposal,” the report said.

A complaint received from employees of the Pakistan Housing Authority (PHA), where Mr Malik had served as director general (land) from February 2006 to September 2010, was also attached to the report.

According to the complaint, the audit officials had pointed out serious financial irregularity as Mr Sadiq had waived cancellation charges of flats in violation of rules, causing loss of millions of rupees to the organisation.

It pointed out that in a clear clash of interests the official had launched an inquiry against the PHA Foundation. “It is against the spirit of justice and fair play that the person who himself is an accused has become a judge” in the case, another complaint said.

According to the rules, the allotment of flats by the PHA can be cancelled in case of default of four consecutive instalments and 10 per cent cancellation charges have to be deducted from the refunded amount.

Another allegation against Mr Malik was that being a member of a departmental selection committee, he used his influence and disregarded the criteria of qualification, age and regional quota while recommending recruitments to the PHA in various grades, according to the report.

At least 18 persons belonging to Mr Malik’s village got recruited. “After scrutinising the record obtained, it seems that there are some irregularities and some procedures might not have been followed in the appointments made during the tenure of Col Subah Sadiq Malik, which need to be investigated,” the report said.

It mentioned irregularity in promotion of some contract employees to higher grades without cogent reasons.

Other allegations include default in repayment of advance salary, misappropriation in travelling and dwelling allowances and exercising ‘undue discretion as well as influence’ in inquiry proceedings.

The report also recommended an impartial inquiry into an allegation of deliberate increase in the cost of seven PHA projects, causing a loss of Rs1 billion to the foundation.