ISLAMABAD: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Wednesday filed a corruption reference against a former ambassador Pakistan embassy Bulgaria AS Babar Hashmi and others for embezzling embassy funds in the Accountability Court.
The NAB has filed the reference before registrar of the Accountability Court.
According to the reference, former ambassador to Bulgaria Babar Hashmi in connivance with former accountant Tufail Qazi embezzled Rs19 million from 2016 to 2018.
The funds were released for Pakistan’s embassy in Sofia.
The bureau has started investigation in this regard on the request of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The accused used the embassy funds for personal use by paying of their hotels bills.
The embezzlement was detected when a new accountant took charge of the embassy in Sofia.
Hashmi and Qazi have failed to submit a bank reconciliation statement to the chief accounts office of the Foreign Ministry, which is a violation of rules.
Qazi has been arrested in the case by the NAB.
The court will take up the case after the scrutiny by the Registrar’s Office.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2021