LAHORE(National Times)- The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has unearthed a financial scam worth over Rs36 million at Shaikh Zayed Hospital (SZH) and arrested its 15 employees including a director finance and a doctor.

The FIA in July last had launched a probe into the allegations that funds allocated for “public health” at the Shaikh Zayed Hospital were misappropriated.

“We have completed the investigation in a span of nine months and detected Rs36.2m embezzlement of funds in which 15 employees were involved,” FIA Deputy Director Anti-Corruption Circle Syed Asad Muzaffar told a press conference on Thursday.

He said the suspects with the connivance of each other and officers of accounts section made forged entries and prepared fake/bogus bills containing fabricated signatures of consultants/doctors in the Private Practice Share Distribution Section of the Accounts Department, Shaikh Zayed Medical Institute Lahore, to acquire illegal financial benefits.

“The embezzled funds were falsely attributed to doctors. Doctors would charge fees for examining private patients, which was misused in this scheme. Over a period of one-and-a-half years, 156 fake bills were fraudulently approved,” the deputy director said and added the arrested suspects had been handed over to the FIA on a four-day physical remand.

Those arrested are Tajamul Sattar (director finance BPS-19), M Maqsood (accounts officer BPS-18), Hafiz Akhtar Mehmood (audit officer BPS-18), M. Ijaz (audit officer BPS-18), Waheed Abbas (cashier BPS-16), Dr. Najeebullah Khan (P.G trainee), Haroon Umer (sub-engineer BPS-15),Naeem Ahmed, Usman Lal Khan and M. Asif (daily wagers), Farooq Khan (naib qasid), Rehan Ali (junior clerk), Rashid Ali (lab attendant), Ali Raza (electrician) and Amjad Jaameel ( transport officer). The suspects have been booked under sections 109, 409, 420, 468, 471, 477-A PPC, R/W 5(2)47 PCA.

Meanwhile, the FIA arrested a Lesco line superintendent for demanding a bribe of Rs1 million from a citizen.