President Alvi upholds ‘Removal from Service’ punishment of NAB officer over leaking confidential information

ISLAMABAD, May 20 (SABAH): President Dr. Arif Alvi has upheld the punishment of “Removal from Service” of an ex Assistant Director of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), Sukkur, Faheemullah, over the leaking of classified/confidential information that led to the escape of an accused person from arrest. The President rejected the appeal of Faheemullah against the major penalty of “Removal from Service” imposed by NAB and stated that for corrupt individuals the penalty of “Removal from Service” did not do justice. He directed NAB to prosecute the corrupt official and others identified in the inquiry in a Court of Law to punish them for the wrong done to the country and for doing corruption within the very institution that was responsible for controlling corruption.

According to details, Faheemullah (the appellant) was accused of unauthorizedly leaking out the Warrant of Arrest (WoA) of an accused, Rafiq Ahmed Rajpar, Ex-Deputy Director Food Department, Larkana, who was wanted in a Food case by the NAB, Sukkur. Faheemullah shared the classified information with his friend, Yaqoob Rajpar (Ex-Deputy Assistant Director NAB, who is currently serving as the Assistant Commissioner, Federal Board of Revenue, Shikarpur). Yaqoob passed on the information about WoA to Rafiq Ahmed Rajpar, who managed to flee and avoided the execution of the Warrant of Arrest. After inquiry and adhering to all legal formalities, the charges of illegal sharing of WoA were proven against Faheemullah and a major penalty of “Removal from Service” was imposed upon the appellant. Faheemullah, then, submitted an appeal addressed to the President of Pakistan, the Appellate Authority under NAB Employees Terms and Conditions of Services (TCS) Rules 2002.

After granting the NAB official the opportunity of being heard and examining the details of the case, President Dr. Arif Alvi rejected his appeal on the grounds that he had not provided any cogent reason to recall the earlier decision of “Removal from Service”. He noted that WoA and other documents regarding the case, which originated from Faheemullah, reached Rafiq Rajpar, who on the basis of information was getting bails and avoiding arrest in a Food case. He also pointed out that the existence of links between Faheemullah, Yaqoob Rajpar and Mr Rafiq Rajpar was established, and the forensic analysis of telephones owned by the appellant and Yaqoob Rajpar also showed that gross corruption was taking place in NAB under them. The President directed that investigation and tracking should be done in all other details about this naked corruption within NAB, Sukkur, and rejected the appeal of Faheemullah.