PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chapter of National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Friday arrested accused Treasurer Shafiq Ullah (BPS-19) and Procurement Officer Pir Asfandyar (BPS-18) of the Abdul Wali Khan University Mardan (AWKUM) for allegedly embezzling the varsity funds worth millions of rupees allocated for the purchase of IT equipment, furniture, lab chemicals and equipment.
According to the allegations, the accused persons in connivance with AWKUM Vice Chancellor Dr Ihsan Ali illegally purchased sub-standard IT and lab equipment, chemicals and furniture from their already selected blue-eyed contractors in the criminal violation of government procurement laws.
Both the accused Shafiq Ullah and Asfandyar along with their accomplices ‘misused their authority’ and were alleged of issuing supply orders for the purchase of furniture on highly exorbitant rates to the favourite bidder on the already expired tender.
Furthermore, Asfandyar allegedly maneuvered the procurement process for the purchase of lab chemicals and IT and lab equipment and illegally ‘issued’ supply orders on highly exorbitant rates to his crony contractors. Accused Shafiq Ullah, on the other hand, illegally ‘processed’ bills of millions of rupees for these procurements. Thus, the accused persons were alleged of jointly and severely, in league with other accused persons, causing a huge loss to the public exchequer.
KP NAB said it was actively pursuing the investigation and more arrests were on the card. The accused persons will be produced before the accountability court for obtaining their physical remand to proceed further as per law.
