LAHORE – The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Punjab filed six new references in accountability courts on Friday. The references have been filed against former Punjab University (PU) College of Information Technology principal Dr Majid Naeem, M/s Empire Phones Lahore CEO Arshad Butt and others, former United Bank Limited (UBL) Thokar Niaz Baig Branch cashier Latif Khan, former Income Tax Office Circle-III superintendent Habibur Rehman and nine others, J Khalid Oil Mills Vehari partners Javed Iqbal and Muhammad Shafi, M/S Commodities Traders and Aldos International, Multan Road, Lahore Chairman Dr Niyamatullah Sajid and partner Khadim Hussain.
According to details, a reference has been filed against Naeem on allegedly misusing Rs 2.7 million by abuse of power. The accused while serving as the PU College of IT principal withdrew Rs 2.7 million from the university funds without approval of the competent authority and used the money for personal expenditure. A reference has been filed against Arshad Butt and for embezzling $ 5 million.
According to details, accused Butt along with his business partner Salma Parveen imported 0.1 million cellular phones against a credit insurance cover note issued by CNA Financial Corporation, US. The accused received shipment of 87,880 phones but could not clear his payments. Verification of the credit insurance cover by the FBI confirmed that the accused had used fake documents for the sale deed. Butt had also filed a petition in Lahore High Court challenging NAB’s jurisdiction but it was dismissed by the court. A reference was filed against former banker Latif for embezzling Rs 1.3 million while working as a cashier at UBL Thokar Niaz Baig Branch from 2000-05. The accused received cash deposits for remittance in respective accounts and utility bills but did not record the transactions in the relevant cash register and ledger.
A reference was filed against Habib and nine others income tax officials for embezzling Rs 10.4 million. The accused while serving as circle supervisor III and IV at the Income Tax Office, Lahore prepared 237 bogus refund vouchers and caused a loss of Rs 10.4 million to national exchequer. These bogus vouchers were deposited and encashed in connivance with each other through various accounts in different banks in name of persons who were not even tax payers.
A reference was filed against Javed and others for obtaining Rs 4.69 million by corruption. The accused availed running cash facilities from the MCB Bank, Vehari in 2003-04 against pledged stock of cotton seed oil and sunflower oil cake. Javed and others misappropriated the pledged stock without paying the outstanding liability and caused a loss of Rs 4.69 million to the bank. A reference was filed against Dr Niyamatullah Sajid and others for embezzling Rs 11.81 million. The accused befooled the public by offering investments at higher profits and collected Rs 11.814 million from various people and disappeared, depriving people of their hard-earned money.
