ISLAMABAD: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB), along with Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) officials, raided two offices of the National Testing Service (NTS) in Islamabad on Monday and arrested its CEO Air Commodore (r) Dr Sherzada Khan and four other employees.
The NAB team and FBR officials, also seized several documents after examining records at the two offices. Besides Dr Sherzada, four other NTS employees including the administration in-charge were arrested in the raids.
On Friday, NAB chairman Justice (r) Javed Iqbal had ordered an inquiry into NTS – an entity that conducts tests for induction into the government sector – on account of alleged embezzlement and question papers being leaked before the testing dates for monetary gains.
The decision was made after the anti-corruption watchdog received a number of complaints from candidates ranging from papers being compromised before the tests, procedural irregularities in the hiring process, and other corrupt practices in the NTS.
A day later, Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah also constituted a five-member inquiry committee to investigate allegations of irregularities in the entry test for medical colleges and universities’ conducted on October 22 through the NTS following widespread protests by candidates in the province.
Although, NTS has become a major testing authority over the last few years, there are more and more questions being raised in the parliament about its roles and legal position.
A recent report from the auditor general of Pakistan (AGP) revealed that NTS officials and related departments are not in the favour of a verification process. It may be speculated that the unwillingness stems from financial irregularities which may be uncovered.
