LAHORE – Even after the registration of a corruption case against seven senior Excise officers by Anti Corruption Punjab, they are enjoying lucrative postings regularly.
It is pertinent to mention here that a case was registered against four directors and three Excise and Taxation Officers of the Punjab Excise and Taxation department on December 24, 2020.
The Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE) registered a case against four directors including Muhammad Asif (BS-18), Sohail Arshad (BS-19), Qamar ul Hassan (BS-18), Rizwan Akram Sherwani (BS-19), and Imran Aslam (BS-19) while among the Excise and Taxation Officers (ETO) nominated in the FIR included Adeel Amjad, Naeem Qadir and Akram. Apart from above said officers two Excise Inspectors and some DEOs were also nominated in the FIR.
All these officers were facing charges of misappropriating records of 4397 vehicles registered with the Excise department. They were alleged of being connived with private people to disappear the record of the above-said vehicles.
After thorough investigations, ACE authorities on December 10, 2022, recommended judicial action against the above said officers but they remained unmoved and no action was taken against them within the department.
They were enjoying lucrative postings throughout. At present Muhammad Asif was posted as Director Audit and Enforcement, Rizwan Akram Sherwani Director General Narcotics Control, Qamar ul Hassan, Director of Region-B Lahore, Sohail Arshad is on leave and Imran Aslam is Officer on Special Duty (OSD).
Deputy Director General (DDG) Anti Corruption Saqib Tarazi said, “We have sent the case to court after completion of the investigations and ACE has recommended judicial action against all officers involved in the scam.
Among the ETOs Adeel Amjad is performing as ETO Headquarters while Sheikh Naeem Qadir has retired from the department. It is worth mentioning here that at the beginning of the registration of the case, Adeel Amjad was arrested at the hands of ACE soon after his release he was posted as ETO Sialkot and then brought to Lahore for postings.
When contacted Muhammad Masud Mukhtar, Secretary Excise and Taxation Punjab expressed his ignorance of the registration of any case. He said that there was a case fixed on Monday with NAB authorities, Let me check the status of that case I would be in a position to tell you the progress on the case.
Advocate Shoib Cheema on contact said that in routine any competent authority could transfer an officer after being involved in corruption or registration of a case against him. If some authority does not suspend or de-seat any corrupt officer one can complain to Chief Secretary Punjab for action.
