Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: Massive scam of appointments on fake degrees in Pakistan Broadcasting Corporation (PBC) has surfaced under which people were appointed on fake degrees by taking huge money from them.

According to documents available with Daily Times, countless appointments were made in Radio Pakistan during the previous regime and most of the people were appointed by taking bribe from them. Certain persons were recruited on the basis of political affiliations.

Sources said PBC administration made appointments in sheer violation of PEMRA rules and department rules as well. Such people were appointed on hefty salaries who did neither fulfilled the criteria set for these inductions nor did they meet the educational qualification condition laid down under the rules.

Sources said the audit report of PBC for the year 2006-07 revealed that majority of the persons appointed in IT department of Radio Pakistan are holding bogus degrees. In this regard the board members expressed their reservations in board meeting held under the then information secretary Mansoor Sohail and constituted a 3-member committee to probe into the matter. The committee members were directed to get verify the educational certificates of all those who were appointed and present its report.

The inquiry committee led by Malik Muhammad Saeed Khan investigated the matter and said in its report that the educational certificates of 19 persons who are appointed in IT department are fake and bogus. These employees include programmer Nazim Hussain (former employee of Pakistan Baitul Mall), assistant programmers Kamran Khan, Zeeshan Ashraf, Asad Mehmood Abbasi, Ishtiaq Ahmad, Sadia Nawaz, net working engineer Rehan Ahmad, Sami Masood, Asim Naveed, Atif Ashraf, Iftikhar Ahmad, Rizwan Latif, Saad Anwar, Mohsin Raza, Salim Akram, Asim Rafiq, Usman Masood and data entry operator Muhammad Nawaz.

Some persons have been appointed on the degrees issued by such educational institutions which do not exist anywhere. The inquiry committee and board of directors recommended for initiation of departmental action against these employees and for referring their cases to FIA through ministry of information and broadcasting.

Sources told Daily Times Radio Pakistan sent fake degrees of all these persons and copy of inquiry committee report to ministry of information with recommendations that cases be got registered against all of them with FIA. But not only file was shelved by higher authorities-employees nexus but also directives were issued to these employees to continue their job.

Sources said that the then DG Radio Pakistan Murtaza Solangi had voiced strong protest over these appointments but these employees are still in service in Radio Pakistan and receiving attractive salary packages and privileges running into millions of rupees per month.