Dr Saeed Akhtar claims innocence as ACE reveals embezzlement in PKLI enquiry report

LAHORE – The Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE) has held top officials in the Infrastructure Development Authority Punjab, the Pakistan Kidney and Liver Institute and Research Center (PKLI&RC), and engineering firms responsible for causing a loss of over a billion rupees to public exchequer, official documents show.

In its final enquiry report released earlier this month, the ACE report also identified PKLI’s chief executive officer Dr Saeed Akhtar as the man behind the hiring of substandard staff for the state-of-art hospital, as well as the hiring of foreign nurses.

“The recruitment of medical/non-medical staff were made by PKLI management without due diligence and sheer violations were observed in this regard. The role of Dr. Saeed Akhtar in the whole process of recruitment needs probe,” said the ACE report, which is available with DailyPakistan.

Denying any wrongdoing, Dr Saeed Akhtar says he was “being blamed for unlawful employment of three individuals out of 1500 employees.”



One of the recruitments in question was of Mr. Qaiser Rafiq, who according to ACE holds Bachelor’s in Electrical Engineering but was appointed as Project Director PKLI&RC despite not having prescribed qualification as per advertisement i.e. Bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering & Masters in the relevant field.

Similarly, the ACE report maintained the recruitment of other high rank officers/officials, Dr Amer Yar Khan, Rashid Ghafoor, and Aqeel Mir needs further probe.

Along with CEO of Infrastructure Development Authority Mujahid Sherdil, Dr Saeed Akhtar has been alleged of violating rules and regulations while running the prestigious institute.

However, the renowned doctor claims the PKLI management “followed rules approved by our BoGs (Board of Governors) based on modern corporate cultures so there were no irregularities.”

He insists “if we followed the government rules, it would become a government hospital and not a center of excellence.”

He also dismissed reports that there is any allegation of financial involvement on his part.

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On the other hand, the ACE report said: “Public funds have been embezzled/misappropriated by adopting illegal practices/procedures and violating check and balances deliberately causing loss of Rs. 1655.49 million and an unauthorized/illegal payment of Rs. 141.97 million used by IDAP officers.”

Moreover, it also aimed to further investigate the role of officers/officials of Health department, P&D department, Finance department, Government of Punjab who processed for approval and release of funds to PKLI&RC without PC-1/approval for ECNEC.

The ACE enquiry comes as a result of a suo-moto notice taken in August last year by the Supreme Court against alleged irregularities and misappropriation of funds at the PKLI, and the appointment of former chief minister Shahbaz Sharif and others in the PKLI board of governors.

Justice Iqbal Hameedur Rehman, a retired judge of the Supreme Court, was appointed chairman of the 5-member ad hoc committee to manage and run the affairs of the hospital situated in suburban Lahore.

The court's commission had then told a two-judge SC bench headed by former CJP Mian Saqib Nisar that the project, which was to be completed by December 2017, was still in progress. The originally approved cost of the project, Rs12.7 billion, had risen to over Rs53bn with the passage of time, the court also learnt.

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The final report by ACE also found the project on 50-acre land is still under construction and contrary to advertisement, according to which the PKLI was to house more than 1,000 beds, the scope of the project was reduced/changed to 472 bedded hospital but the consultant fee was increased from Rs395.35 million to Rs45.68 m so far with extension of time (EOT).

“Although every arrangement/facilitation regarding provision of funds, award of work on exorbitant rates, heavily paid professionals/consultants was made for its completion on time but all in vain,” the report read.

It held the IDAP management responsible for “not imposing any penalty or damages on contractor due to the delay in project” and, on the other hand, “paid huge amount to consultants i.e. CPG-Arcop JV, M/S/ NESPAK-Mooyoung, etc.”

Earlier in July last year, the apex court had placed Dr Saeed Akhtar, the head of PKLI, on the Exit Control List after it learnt that Rs100 million was being spent on monthly salaries of the employees but not a single kidney or liver transplant had been conducted at the institute.

During a visit to the Pakistan Kidney and Liver Transplant Institute (PKLI) earlier this year, Punjab Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar had said the hospital will be completed in June and “we will run it successfully”.

“Punjab government provided billions of rupees but its role was kept limited. Now, we are going to bring an Act. We will constitute a board headed by the Chief Minister,” he said after learning that till January, 22 kidney transplants had been conducted at the hospital besides two liver resections.