Fake NOC: Ex-PIO, others approved bill, IHC told

Federal Investigation Authority (FIA) informed Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Friday that former principal information officer (PIO) and other senior officials of the department approved a bill of Rs 1.18 million on a fake NOC to an advertising agency. In a written reply submitted to the court, the FIA said that the PID released the amount to an advertising agency on a fake letterhead of Pakistan Ordnance Factory (POF).
In response to a petition filed by Chaudhry Rashid, seeking suspension of an FIR, registered against him, the FIA said that besides Rashid, eight other officials of the information ministry and three clerks working in PID were involved in the case. The FIA said that other officers namely Ejaz Ahmed, deputy director general PID, Ashraf Hussain director, Raja Mohammad Farooq, director, Ali Nawaz Malik, deputy director, Badshah Rehman, advertisement officer, Rafiq Khattak, deputy director and M. Rafiq, superintendent, have been booked for their involvement in the case.
The reply said that the advertising agency - M/s Manhattan Pvt Ltd - has acknowledged that they received Rs 1.18 million with active connivance of PID officials on fake documents due to which they voluntarily returned the amount to PID. It further said that Badshah Rehman, one of the accused in the case, received the said amount from the advertising agency but did not deposit it in the government treasury.
The FIA said that Chaudhry Rashid, as a competent authority approved the bill of Rs 1.18 million on a bogus/fake NOC on a duplicate bill without any objection on the availability of original bills within half day of processing time of the file. A single-member bench comprising Justice Noorul Haq N. Qureshi heard the case.
The reply also stated that the petitioner himself enclosed two letters along with the petition admitting that some over-payment was drawn by some advertising agency during his tenure. However, the said letter was written by the petitioner to PID when he came to know that FIA has initiated an enquiry into this issue on January 26, 2012. Earlier, Chaudhry Rashid challenged the registration of an FIR registered against him by the FIA in connection with release of payment to an advertising agency which the investigation agency claimed was illegal.
Chaudhry Rashid is on an interim bail from trial court along with 8 other officers of PID who were nominated in the FIR. The petition which was filed by Chaudhry Rashid contended that the case was registered against him while he was working as principal information officer (PIO) in the information ministry at BPS-21. The petition further stated, "Under the rules of FIA, no inquiry can be conducted against an officer in BPS-21 nor he can be arrested without prior permission of the competent authority." The court adjourned the case till Monday.