Nazim accused of drawing fund through fake cheque

PESHAWAR: An inquiry conducted by the Local Government and Rural Development Department (LG&RDD)
has unearthed that nazim village council Noorkhel in Upper Dir district has fraudulently drawn public funds from official account of the council.

The inquiry, conducted by assistant director (AD) LG&RDD, was initiated after a joint application was received by the AD from the public representatives of the council.

The councillors, who moved application against the nazim, also provided evidence to prove as to how the nazim committed the fraud of drawing an amount of Rs80,000 through fake cheque.

During the course of inquiry, the copy which is available with The News, Nazim Muhammaddin has also confessed to his guilt.

He said that he had drawn Rs80,000 from the official account by making fake signatures of the secretary of the council, who is his co-signatory.

The nazim’s confessional statement on the judicial stamp paper has also been duly witnessed by naib nazim Gul Amin, where the nazim also confessed that he had detached two more pages from the official cheque book.

The secretary of the council also informed the inquiry officer that the nazim had also tempered with a cheque for 1,113700 prepared for the rent of the office by adding the digit 1, but luckily only Rs500,000 were available in the account, thus the cheque for Rs11,13,700 was cancelled.

The elected councillors, who moved the application against the nazim, sought disqualification of the nazim, saying that he had lost confidence of the house after resorting to the fraud.

The inquiry officer also recommended to the director general LG &RDD that a case for disqualification of the nazim should be initiated on the grounds of his involvement in an alleged misappropriation and fraudulently drawing fund from official account.

He has also recommended that a criminal case should also be registered against the defaulting nazim.

The director general LG&RDD, Adil Siddque, however, directed the quarters concerned that the nazim under Section 41 and 114 of the LG Act 2013 is a public office-holder and he should be dealt with accordingly.