QUETTA: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Balochistan on Thursday filed a reference in the accountability court against 21 officials of the provincial fisheries department on charges of around Rs 1 billion corruption.

Former Secretary Coastal Development and Fisheries Aftab Baloch and Director General Fisheries Muneer Musiani are among the accused.

The NAB officials, during investigations, found that the owners of Hamlet Builders, AJ Marines, Engineering Services Karachi, Qalandar Bakhsh Abro & Company, Elite Enterprises Hyderabad and Aye Technology Limited Karachi obtained government contracts through forged bank certificates, joint venture agreements and insurance guarantees, and fake experience, a NAB press release said.

The accused including Secretary and DG Fisheries gave the contracts of purchase of green fiberglass boat, sea ambulances, patrolling boats and vessel monitoring systems to the companies, which were not even registered by the Mercantile Marine Department.

Likewise in May and June, heavy payments were made by the accused to the companies despite failure in the delivery of boats and other equipment.