LAHORE: The Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE) Punjab on Monday arrested an Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI) for stealing a huge quantity of gold and over Rs 2 million in cash from national kitty.

While addressing a press conference, ACE Punjab Director General Rai Manzoor Nasir said they had arrested ASI Mubashir Iqbal who had stolen two kilograms of gold and Rs 2.1 million in cash from the national kitty. He said the arrested ASI was the custodian of the stolen money and the gold, which was seized from the house of notorious land grabber Mansha Bomb during a raid at his house.

He said that a target of three months had been set for resolving 200 important corruption cases on which reports had been sought from all the regional directorates. “Action will be taken against government employees who have assets beyond their known sources of income,” he added.

The ACE DG said their job was to curb corruption, not to humiliate the citizens, adding that strict action would be taken against the officers who had registered bogus FIRs against innocent people. “Anti-corruption leanings would not be seen towards any political party and every case would be decided on merit,” he claimed, adding action would also be taken against every corrupt person even if he/she was a bureaucrat.

Answering a question, Rai Manzoor said that necessary changes were being made to the anti-corruption laws and rules to enhance efficiency of the department and the services of a legal firm had been hired for that purpose.

He said that specialists would be hired for the use of modern technology for white-collar crimes and mega-financial crimes. He disclosed that the Punjab government would provide 80 kanals of land in Lahore where offices of the ACE Head office and Regional Directorates of Lahore would be set up. He was flanked by ACE Lahore Regional Director (A) Faisal Saleem.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022