The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Tuesday decided to start an inquiry against the Chairman of Balochistan Public Service Commission (BPSC) on charges of favouritism and corruption while appointing 800 officials against grade 16-18 vacancies, the NAB's spokesperson said. The decision was taken at the executive board meeting of the anti-corruption watchdog, which was presided over by NAB chief Admiral Fasih Bokhari (Retd).

The spokesperson said that the NAB board also decided to initiate inquiry against others accused officials allegedly involved in misuse of authority, favouritism, nepotism, corruption and corrupt practices in appointments. It was alleged that the posts of Head Mistresses (BS-17) were "sold" for Rs 1.7 million each and Assistant Commissioners for Rs 4 million each without observing merit and depriving the poor of their basic rights, he said.

The NAB spokesperson said that the NAB board also decided to refer the case to the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) against four former Directors of Bank of Punjab (BoP) so that a reference could be filed with NAB through the governor SBP under Section 31-D of NAO 1999. In this case, the accused were alleged to have obtained bank loans in violation of rules and regulations.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2012