From Zeeshan Mirza
KARACHI: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has made important progress in the probe into the wheat scandal by finding traces of nexus between officers of the provincial food authority and owners of flour mills for getting ‘commission’.
Sources told reporters that the officers received a commission of Rs100 to Rs150 for each sack while releasing the government wheat to the flour mills. The officers had grabbed more than Rs70 million in term of commission in accordance with the records, sources added. After the findings, the anti-corruption watchdog had summoned the provincial food secretary in November.
NAB investigators had been provided relevant records through a focal person by the provincial food secretary, said sources, adding that the records stated that the government had allocated the quota of 140,000 wheat sacks for three districts including Sanghar, Benazirabad and Naushahro Feroze last month.It emerged that the suspected officers of Sindh Food Authority released government wheat to flour mills in Mirpur Khas after violating the law after allegedly receiving commission from the mill owners.
The revelations were made after the NAB investigators recorded statements of mill owners. Sources said that NAB is investigating into the alleged wheat scandal under anti-money laundering act and so far recorded statements of more than 40 officers of the provincial food department. In November, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) had launched a separate inquiry into Sindh wheat scam under the anti-money laundering act 2010 after important revelations.
The investigation had disclosed that the important personalities involved in the wheat scam laundered money abroad.Earlier, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Sindh chapter had recovered more than Rs10 billion in wheat scandal under the inquiries opened against the provincial food department for the theft of wheat worth more than Rs15 billion.
A report released by NAB had stated that nine inquiries were opened against Sindh Food Department in Sukkur as wheat worth more than Rs15 billion had been stolen in nine districts. The flour mill owners had plea-bargained Rs2.112 billion during the NAB investigation.
Earlier, The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has decided to launch an inquiry into the sugar and wheat scandals in wake of Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) reports.
“Sugar and wheat crisis is a prime mega scandal and the anti-graft watching will not remain silent into the scam of billions of rupees,” said the NAB spokesperson.
The spokesperson added the anti-graft agency is thoroughly reviewing the sugar, wheat scandal and will conduct a transparent inquiry into the matter. It is pertinent to mention here that the federal government earlier this month had made public reports of a high-level inquiry into the sugar and wheat crises that had hit the people hard across the country in January. Under the stewardship of FIA director general Wajid Zia, two teams carried out a probe into the crises and furnished their reports to the prime minister upon completion for perusal.
