FIA arrests 15 Shaikh Zayed Hospital employees in Rs36.2m embezzlement case

LAHORE: The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has arrested 15 employees of Shaikh Zayed Hospital after uncovering an alleged embezzlement case involving more than Rs36 million, according to an FIA official.

The agency had started investigating the matter in July last year after allegations surfaced that money allocated under public health at Shaikh Zayed Hospital had been misused. Speaking at a press conference on Thursday, FIA Deputy Director Anti-Corruption Circle Syed Asad Muzaffar said the inquiry had been completed over nine months.

"We have completed the investigation in a span of nine months and detected Rs36.2m embezzlement of funds in which 15 employees were involved," he informed.

Muzaffar said the suspects, allegedly acting in collusion with one another and with officials in the accounts section, made forged entries and prepared fake and bogus bills in the Private Practice Share Distribution Section of the Accounts Department at Shaikh Zayed Medical Institute Lahore. He said the bills carried fabricated signatures of consultants and doctors and were used to obtain unlawful financial gains.

"The embezzled funds were falsely attributed to doctors. Doctors would charge fees for examining private patients, which was misused in this scheme. Over a period of one-and-a-half years, 156 fake bills were fraudulently approved," the FIA deputy director said.

According to the FIA, those arrested include Tajamul Sattar, director finance (BPS-19); M Maqsood, accounts officer (BPS-18); Hafiz Akhtar Mehmood, audit officer (BPS-18); M. Ijaz, audit officer (BPS-18); Waheed Abbas, cashier (BPS-16); Dr. Najeebullah Khan, P.G trainee; Haroon Umer, sub-engineer (BPS-15); Naeem Ahmed, Usman Lal Khan and M. Asif, all daily wagers; Farooq Khan, naib qasid; Rehan Ali, junior clerk; Rashid Ali, lab attendant; Ali Raza, electrician; and Amjad Jaameel, transport officer.

Case registered under multiple legal provisions

The arrested employees have been handed over to the FIA on a four-day physical remand, Muzaffar said. The suspects have been booked under sections 109, 409, 420, 468, 471 and 477-A of the Pakistan Penal Code, read with 5(2)47 PCA.

The FIA said the alleged fraud involved 156 fake bills approved over a period of one-and-a-half years through manipulation of records linked to doctors’ private practice fee distributions.

In a separate development, the FIA also arrested a Lahore Electric Supply Company (Lesco) line superintendent on allegations of demanding a Rs1 million bribe from a citizen.