A large amount of grant money for the Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto Shaheed Medical University (SZABMU), Islamabad has allegedly been transferred to a joint account of the acting registrar and his wife.
The Ministry of Capital Administration and Development Division (CADD) and the Higher Education Commission (HEC) have initiated an inquiry into the matter following the emergence of the matter.
Official documents available with Pakistan Today revealed that millions of rupees were transferred to a joint account of acting Registrar Dr Muhammad Amjad and his wife from January 2015 to February 2017. The said account was maintained at the National Bank of Pakistan, Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) branch, and transfer and withdrawal of heavy amount had been made during the last two years.
The documents also disclosed that the HEC had transferred Rs 2.5m per month to this joint bank account under the head medical university grant, while students had also deposited university fee in the said account.
Official sources, on condition of anonymity, told Pakistan Today that CADD ministry and the HEC has taken cognizance of the matter and started an inquiry to fix the responsibility. They said a government employee cannot keep government amount in a personal account; and such a big mistake in modern day banking system is next to impossible. The HEC chairman has directed the finance division to initiate an inquiry into the matter to ascertain the facts,” sources said.
HEC Chairman Dr Mukhtar Ahmed, while talking to this scribe, said he has directed the concerned departments to collect detailed information on the matter. “I have asked SZABMU vice chancellor to start a probe into the matter,” Dr Mukhtar said.
It is relevant to mention here that Dr Amjad is a children surgeon by profession and his wife is a medical officer at PIMS. Dr Amjad was given acting charge of the SZABMU registrar some four years back.
Dr Amjad told Pakistan Today that it was bank’s mistake and the bank had also tendered an official apology for wrongly tagging the account with a personal name, adding that the bank has taken action against the errant official.” I will sue the bank and will claim damages,” said Dr Amjad.
A copy of official apology for wrongly tagging the account of SZABMU with a personal name by the NBP, however, disclosed that statements of account of SZABMU were regularly collected by the officials concerned and reconciled. The wrong title of the account was never pointed out before the legal notice served by the vice chancellor.
It is worth mentioning that transactions worth in millions of rupees continued to manage for two years through unauthorised bank account. And, neither the bank management nor university administration realised the gravity of the violation. Also, the acting registrar kept mum on the matter for two long years while transaction continued for two years as per bank statement of this joint account managed at the NBP.