ISLAMABAD: Special Judge Central Humayun Dilawar has revoked the interim bail of the accused in a multi-million-rupee corruption case involving the National News Agency, APP (Associated Press of Pakistan), leading to the accused fleeing the court premises.
On Thursday, the court heard the bail petitions of the accused in the APP IT project corruption case. The accused included the former Director of IT and Project Director Ghaus Khan, former Manager Accounts Arshad Majeed Chaudhry, Deputy Director IT Masawar Imran, and Chief Computer Engineer Saad Mudasir Khan, among six others.
During the hearing, APP’s legal advisor, Sardar Muhammad Yaqub Mastoi, argued that the accused had caused a loss of millions of rupees to the national agency by violating PPRA rules and requested the court to reject their bail applications. The court, agreeing with Sardar Muhammad Yaqub Mastoi’s arguments, dismissed the pre-arrest bail applications of the six accused, who subsequently managed to escape from the court premises.
The Federal Investigation Agency’s (FIA) Anti-Corruption Wing had conducted an investigation and registered a case against the accused. According to the FIA’s FIR, the inquiry revealed that the procurement committee of APP Corporation, in collusion with contractors, caused a loss of 124.96 million rupees to the national treasury. The total cost of the project was 786.79 million rupees. The inquiry found that the procurement committee members, including the then Project Director Muhammad Ghaus, Deputy Director IT Masawar Imran, and Chief Computer Engineer Saad Mudasir, had violated relevant rules and regulations in the procurement process, causing a significant financial loss to the national exchequer.
The FIA has charged the accused with fraud, forgery, criminal misconduct, violations of rules, abuse of power, and misappropriation of government funds. The accused include Muhammad Ghaus (Project Director), Masawar Imran (Deputy Director), Saad Mudasir (Chief Computer Engineer), Bilal Zafar (Deputy Director Cyber Wing, Ministry of Information), Arshad Majeed Chaudhry (Manager Accounts), and Ziaullah Bhutto (Director Admin and P&D), along with officials from M/s Tijaria Pakistan Pvt Ltd, M/s New Horizon, M/s Art Tech System, and M/s Media Links. The charges are filed under sections 34, 409, 420, 468, 471 PPC r/w 5(2) 47 PCA.
It is noteworthy that FIA Islamabad Zone Director Syed Kashif Nadeem Bukhari, FIA Anti-Corruption Circle Islamabad Deputy Director Muhammad Afzal Niazi, and Assistant Director Shahid Pervez Malik collected substantial evidence with transparency and diligence in this corruption case. The investigation officers presented a robust case before the court. FIA has formed teams to initiate action and arrest the accused.