PESHAWAR - The National Accountability Bureau arrested former chief minister's brother-in-law and adviser for their alleged involvement in a scandal related to the purchase of arms for police, here on Tuesday.
Sources said that Khyber Pakhtunkhwah former chief minister Haider Khan Hoti's adviser for police department Niaz Ali Shah and brother-in-law Raza Ali Khan are included among those arrested in the arms purchase scandal.
KPK former IG Malik Naveed is already in the NAB's custody in the arms purchase scandal. Malik Naveed and other accused are blamed to have caused a loss of Rs1.80 billion in the purchase of arms for the police.
Both the accused were produced before the Accountability Court Peshawar that granted their 14-day physical remand. The arrest is seen as a major development regarding the investigation into the scam.
It merits to be mentioned here that the NAB had authorised an inquiry against KPK police officers and others for an alleged embezzlement in procurement of weapons, equipment and vehicles in 2008-09-10; thus causing huge loss to state exchequer. An amount of over Rs7 billion was released by the KPK government for procurement of weapons, vehicles and equipment in years 2008-10.
During inquiry, it was revealed that gross violation of procurement rules was committed by the purchase committee which awarded tenders to favourite contractors who had no previous experience of supplying such items and for which payments were made in advance. Huge commissions and bribery were involved in the contracts.
Meanwhile, the NAB also arrested an accused namely Wakeel Khan, a SNGPL contractor, who in connivance with project director Bannu Development Authority (BDA) caused substantial loss to the exchequer through fake tendering process. Accused Shamsur Rehman, Assistant Director BDA, has already been arrested.