Federal Minister for Pakistan Railways (PR) Ghulam Ahmad Bilour backed PR General Manager, accused in massive corruption case, saying that he was ready to appear in court to prove his (GM's) innocence. Talking to Business Recorder exclusively, Federal Minister said that Malik Naeem was appointed as new GM PR on Monday.
However, former GM Railway Saeed Akhtar, arrested in corruption case, was an innocent and he was ready to appear in court in his support, the Minister maintained. "Saeed Akhtar was a hard working man and I think he is clear and not involved in any sort of corruption and the charges levelled against him are baseless", said Bilour.
Bilour maintained that during last six months he had done a commendable job to bring Railways back on track; however the matter was now in the court and one could not do any thing in this regard. The department would not leave him in his hour of trouble and would support him, he added.
Saeed Akhtar was arrested by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on March 29, on charges of misappropriation. An Accountability court has handed over the accused to NAB for 14-day physical remand in the scrap fraud case. The case included the sale of scrap worth millions of rupees at throwaway prices and irregularities in the purchase of items for locomotives. The scrap deal was finalised when Sami-ul-Haq Khilji was Secretary Railways who is nowadays out of the country.