Transparency International (TI) Pakistan has approached Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif for removal of Salman Farooqui as Federal Ombudsman and cancellation of other illegal appointments in Wafaqi Mohtasib (federal ombudsman) office. According to a letter written to the Secretary to the Prime Minister, Sohail Muzaffar, Chairman (TI) Pakistan has said that Salman Farooqui's tenure as Ombudsman expired on February 28, 2017 but he continues to work as Ombudsman, unlawfully.
He alleged that Wafaqi Mohtasib has commenced to provide shelter to officers involved in corruption of billions of rupees. The letter stated that the institution which was made to provide justice to oppressed people has made record injustice, as Federal Ombudsman has appointed dozens of its Commissioners on hefty pay and allowances in sheer violation of rules and regulations.
The letter has mentioned the following names ;(i) Hafiz Ahsan Ahmed Khokar, a junior lawyer, appointed in the year 2010 without following rules, and he is still working as Senior Adviser (Law) as well as Grievance Commissioner for Overseas Pakistanis; (ii) the post of Federal Ombudsman was deliberately left vacant on retirement of Javed Sadiq Malik on September 2010. This occurred for the first time in the history of Federal Ombudsman; (iii) after 2 years and 3 months, on 1st December 2012, Salman Farooqui, Secretary General to the President, was temporarily appointed as the acting Federal 'Ombudsman (Mohtasib). There was no provision in Federal Ombudsman Law for any such appointment; (iv) on February 12, 2013, Salman Farooqui, Secretary General to the President managed the issuance of Federal Ombudsmen Institutional Reforms Ordinance, 2013. In this Ordnance a new provision was inserted that at any time when the office of Ombudsman is vacant or he is unable to perform his functions due to any cause, the President shall appoint an acting Ombudsman who shall perform functions and exercise powers as are vested in the Ombudsman and shall be entitled to all privileges as are admissible to Ombudsman; (v) a very strange provision was also made in Federal Ombudsmen Institutional Reforms Ordinance, 2013 that the Ombudsman shall continue to hold office after expiry of his tenure till his successor enters the office;(vi) Pir Sohawa scam and former Chairman CDA Inayat Elahi has been appointed as Commissioner Mohtasib Secretariat at a very large salary and allowances by Wafaqi Mohtasib Salman Farooqi. The most important factor is that Inayat Elahi who was himself involved in corruption of billion rupees, an enquiry is underway against him, would take action on the complaints against CDA;(vii) another officer against whom NAB is carrying out investigation for embezzlement of billion of rupees is former Chairman OGRA Saeed Ahmed Khan, who is also wanted by NAB but he took refuge in the Wafaqi Mohtasib; and (viii) former Secretary Information and Broadcasting Taimoor Azmat Usman, who is accused of massive corruption, there is an ongoing inquiry against him in NAB, and he is working in Wafaqi Mohtasib Secretariat at Rs 300,000 monthly salary on contractual basis after retirement.
The letter quoted sources as saying that Salman Farooqi has inducted 19 high ranked officers after their retirement in 2015-16 including Ijaz Ahmed Qureshi, Raza Arshad, Captain(R) Agha Nadim, S. M. Tahir, Javed Akhtar, Muhammad Ayub Khan Tareen, Syed Anwar Mehmood, Farrukh Ayub Tareen, Abdul Hameed, Naimat Ullah Abid, Mohsin Rizvi, Syed Yasin Ahmed, Javed Akhtar Sheikh and Major General Haroon Sikandar Pasha (rtd.). Enquiries are pending against all these officers in NAB. They were recruited in Wafaqi Mohtasib in violation of rules and regulations.
Those who were appointed in the Mohtasib Secretariat as Commissioners in violation of rules and regulation include Syed Mohsin Asad, Asif Hayat Malik, Malik Muhammad Iqbal, Hafiz Ahsan Ahmed Khokhar, Mubashira Nighat Bano, Tauqeer Ahmed Faiq, Abdul Basit, Anis-ud-Din Ahmed, Farzana Jabeen, Yasmeen Masood, Ishaq Laghari, Shujaat Abbas, Zarina S Zaidi, Muhammad Yamin, Badshah Gul Wazir, Ghulam Farooq, Adalat Khan, Muhammad Aslam Pathan, Liaqaut Ali, Abdul Ghafoor Junejo, Muhammad Sarwar, S. M. Athar, Chaudhary Abdul Hameed, Musaddaq Muhammad Khan, Qurban Ali, Ijaz Ahmed Buttar, Shez Zaheer Ahmed Khan, Syed Dildar Abbas, Abdul Karim, Ahsan Ullah Babar, Walayat Ali Khan and Masoodi Farooq Babar.
The letter written on June 8, 2017 says that on July 24, 2014, Secretary of Wafaqi Mohtasib Secretariat Agha Nadeem announced that the Federal Ombudsman Secretariat has cleared the entire pending over 0.1 million public complaints in a span of only nine months but none of these orders were signed by the Federal Ombudsman himself. According to law, Judges of Courts, as well as all Ombudsman Federal as well as Provincial, shall sign the judgements, personally, and this duty cannot be transferred to any other subordinate officer. This act ridicules the office of Federal Ombudsman.
The complaint has been examined by TI Pakistan and prima facie the charges against the office of Wafaqi Mohtasib, and orders passed by officers of Wafaqi Mohtasib and not by the Wafaqi Mohtasib himself, and illegal appointments in the office of Wafaqi Mohtasib are very serious allegations.
TI (P) claims that Salman Farooqui is virtually handling the affairs of office of Wafaqi Mohtasib for last 7 years, which is a very serious violation of the highest office of accountability directly under the Prime Minster, and prima facie all these allegations need urgent and immediate action by the Prime Minster, who has the declared policy of "zero tolerance against corruption."
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