With reference to a news item appearing in the Daily The Nation on 22 May 2016, the following facts are brought to your kind attention.
During an audit of the PPDCLaccounts, the Punjab Energy Department detected an embezzlement in the accounts of the Punjab Power Development Company. The Chief Minister on learning of the fraud from Ch. Arif Saeed (Chairman PPDCL) immediately directed that all efforts should be put to trace the stolen money. He took personal efforts in having the FIR registered and getting the investigation initiated. Accordingly, Anti-corruption Establishment registered FIR no 14/16 on the report of the Energy Department the same day. During investigations, Anti-Corruption establishment found that an amount of around Rs 240 million had been stolen through forged cheques and deposited into the account of Ms Cosmic Consultants on account of consulting services, which had never been procured by and/or supplied to PPDCL. The Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE) found that cheques had been withdrawn by the then CFO of the company, Ikram Naveed, who was then a BS-20 officer of Audit & Accounts Service by forging the signatures of the then CEO (Mr. Farrukh Ali Shah) and Deputy Secretary Energy Deptt (Mr. Shakeel Ahmed). ACE promptly arrested the accused and interrogated him.
A professional and thorough investigation was put in place by ACE, which revealed that the accused had purchased 19 properties in his and his family’s name (Samina Ikram- wife and sons Farjad Ikram and Ahsan Ikram). ACE also found that external auditors were unable to detect the fraud because they were also supplied forged documents by Ikram Naveed. ACE is investigating the role of the external auditor, Deloitte in the matter.
The Chief Minister has been closely following the investigation and has publically acknowledged and appreciated the efforts of all people involved in detecting the scam and bringing the offenders to justice. The Chief Minister also gave a shield to Mr. Bilal Butt (the present CFO) recently, who initially detected the scam.
Since, the purchase value of these properties goes beyond the Rs. 240 million embezzlement revealed at PPDCL, therefore it is likely that the accused Ikram Naveed committed embezzlement in other government departments. Therefore another enquiry has been ordered by the Chief Minister in Parks and Horticulture Authority (PHA) where the accused Ikram Naveed remained posted from 2003 to 2008. The Chief Minister has also written to the Prime Minister to order an enquiry in the organisations where the accused remained posted under the Federal Government.
It may be mentioned that the accused had invested in more than a dozen properties across the province. The sellers/ developers of these properties were not aware of the source of the income of the accused officer; neither it is a norm or a practice for the sellers of properties to ascertain the source of buyers’ incomes. Therefore any accusation or insinuation regarding the seller’s intentions/ motives is unfounded. It is noteworthy that all the sellers including Mr. Ali Imran have provided all requisite information and have assisted the investigation in all possible ways. As mentioned above, all of these properties including the properties purchased from Mr Ali Imran have been attached by the Anti-Corruption Establishment by obtaining an order from the Court. Further investigations are underway