FIA registers case against three APP senior staff in Rs124 million scam

ISLAMABAd: The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has registered a case against three senior employees of the Associated Press of Pakistan (APP) for their involvement in a scam worth Rs124 million. According to documents obtained by PenPK.com, the accused senior staffers are identified as Project Director Muhammad Ghawas, Deputy Director IT Musawar Imran, and Chief Computer Engineer Saad Mudassar.

“Despite the fact that the financial proposal of M/s Arttek Systems was not approved by the competent authority, i.e., MD APPC, as evident from the minutes of the 8th meeting of the procurement committee to facilitate M/s Arttek and for clearance of their bills from AGPR for their gain, Prima Facie, a case is made against the following persons for fraud, forgery, criminal breach of trust, criminal misconduct, violation of governing rules, abuse of authority, and misappropriation of government funds while causing huge loss to the public exchequer,” the document read.

The loss resulted from the collaboration between the procurement committee of APP Corporation (APPC) and contractors such as M/s Arttek Systems, M/s Tejaria, M/s Cammtel, and M/s New Horizon. These actions blatantly violated the procurement process outlined in the project titled “Reconstructing News Operations by Replacing Outdated Equipment with Modern Cutting-Edge Technology.”

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As a recipient of funding from the Public Sector Development Program (PSDP) for operational development, APP was entrusted with establishing a cutting-edge data centre, enhancing news operations, and procuring essential equipment under PSDP-2023-2024.