Corruption worth Rs 200 million has on Saturday been exposed in the purchase of CCTV cameras in Karachi. The cameras installed are faulty and substandard while the corruption was allegedly carried out with the involvement of senior police officials.
The dream to upgrade the monitoring system of Karachi to international standards remains unfulfilled, mainly due to the incompetence and corruption of the police officials. Sindh police had decided to install CCTV cameras in the city for the identification of terrorists, target-killers, extortionists and kidnappers for ransom. However, this project was also marred with major corruption scam.
A local TV channel obtained the record of the purchase of CCTV cameras that has exposed the secret dealing between Director IT Tabassum Abbasi and the suspect Sana Ullah. Sindh Police Director IT gave the contracts to her favourite CCTV camera company. Tabassum Abbasi used to provide the details of the negotiations between the Sindh police and the other companies to the suspect who would then raise objections.
Later, the suspect installed substandard CCTV cameras which neither have the zoom feature nor their result is fit enough to help recognize a person. Director IT Tabassum Abbasi has been receiving all the facilities for the last two years despite being out of contract. She has been instructed by IG Sindh Ghulam Haider Jamali to keep working. Law enforcement agencies are still probing the arrested suspect Sana Ullah and names of more police officials are expected to be surfaced in days to come.