KARACHI: Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Rai Ijaz on Tuesday was taken into physical remand for ten days by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on corruption charges after a Rs 700 million scandal emerged earlier last week.
Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Rai Ijaz on Tuesday was taken into physical remand for ten days by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on corruption charges after a Rs 700 million scandal emerged earlier last week.
NAB Lahore had earlier issued Ijaz’s arrest warrants on November 30; however, he had escaped when anti-graft officials had raided his house to make the arrest.
The latest development comes after he was presented for a hearing in an accountability court in Lahore where the bureau requested the court for approving a physical remand of the suspect.
The prosecution claims that the SSP had misappropriated funds allotted for uniforms and fuel between 2014 and 2016 while serving as the Gujrat district police officer (DPO).
All charges were denied by the SSP who said that no evidence of corruption was found against him in earlier investigations regarding the same matter. “No corruption has been proven in the anti-corruption [department’s] report on my tenure in Gujrat,” he said while claiming that is “record is clean”.
“Now a media trial is being conducted with false accusations of Rs700 million corruption,” he claimed.
The accused SSP also said that his arrest was a violation of the law.
The court granted NAB the physical remand after the conclusion of arguments made by both the prosecution and defence.
Ijaz, who is former Lahore chief traffic officer (CTO), is facing charges of misappropriation of Rs700 million in the police funds while he was posted in Punjab.
His father is also nominated in the same case whereas ten other police officials who are also allegedly involved in the scam are already in NAB’s custody.
The former CTO will be handed over to a team of NAB Lahore, which is already present in Karachi.
It merits a mention here that Ijaz is also facing inquiry in an illegal licensing case.
