ISLAMABAD: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) decided on Tuesday to grill the ex-chief minister of Balochistan and two former provincial ministers of Sindh for their alleged corruption and misdeeds.

A meeting of the bureau’s executive board, presided over by NAB Chairman Qamar Zaman Chaudhry, approved inquiries against Balochistan’s former chief minister Nawab Aslam Raisani, Sindh’s former education minister Pir Mazharul Haq and population minister Ali Mardan Shah.

Take a look: Former Balochistan CM, many others to face NAB inquiry

According to NAB’s spokesman, Nawab Raisani is accused of appointing three Naib Tehsildars in violation of rules.

Pir Mazharul Haq is accused of making illegal and ‘ghost’ appointments of teachers in the education department and receiving bribe.

Ali Mardan Shah is accused of misusing authority and embezzling government funds.

The bureau also decided to initiate an inquiry against Khuram Iftikhar, head of three private firms – AMTEX, Shama and Amfort – and a former director of Bank of Punjab. He is accused of corrupt practices and misusing authority by obtaining loans in violation of the BoP Act 1989. It caused a loss of Rs6.139 billion to the national exchequer.

The executive board directed NAB’s Rawalpindi director general to further investigate the case against officials of the Federal Employees Benevolent & Group Insurance Fund. The officials, in connivance with then managing director Sadiq Ali Khan, had allegedly purchased Rs738 million worth of term finance certificates of Azgard-9 and its subsidiary Agritech Limited in 2010, despite poor financial health indicators of the companies. It caused a huge loss to the benevolent fund.

The NAB DG is required to submit a report on the case in two weeks.

The bureau decided to close inquiries against former federal minister Sardar Yaqoob Khan Nasir; Akbar Durrani and Bashir Ahmed Bangalzai.

Published in Dawn, June 10th, 2015

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