News
Saturday, June 16, 2012
Malik orders probe into corruption of Pak peacekeepersISLAMABAD: Adviser to Prime Minister on Interior Rehman Malik on Friday ordered an inquiry and arrest of responsible Pakistani police officers posted in UN peacekeeping abroad for extension of their stay in Sudan.
He issued a directive after chairing a high-level meeting on the issue which was attended by State Minister Chaudhry Imtiaz Safdar Warraich, interior secretary and Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) director general.
According to a statement of the Interior Ministry, the meeting took stock of fake letters sent by Pakistan police officers included in UN peace mission in Sudan for extension of their stay and alleged corruption.
The interior minister ordered the FIA to immediately move against the responsible and bring them to book. He reiterated that zero tolerance policy against corruption would continue and warned that any officer found involved in the scourge would be dealt in accordance with law.
The meeting was held in backdrop of news that a group of bureaucrats in the Interior Ministry had sent a fake letter with the signatures of a deputy secretary to the headquarters of the United Nations Peacekeeping Mission in New York and recommended the names of 35 police officers based in Sudan for their one-year extension with the peacekeeping mission against heavy financial favours.
The fake letter involved $140,000 as the officials embroiled in the scandal received at least $4,000 (over Rs 13 million) from every police officer for one-year extension in their tenure in Sudan.
The scam surfaced when the administration of the United Nations Peacekeeping Mission in New York, honouring the request of the government, approved the extension of the Pakistani peacekeepers. inp
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk