PESHAWAR: The Finance Department of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has accused the Divisional Forest Officer posted in Swat of embezzling Rs 66.6 million and revealed that the officer allegedly transferred more than Rs 90 million of additional government funds into his personal bank account.
According to the Finance Department, these irregularities were detected due to an effective financial monitoring system.
Preliminary investigations have revealed that, allegedly, cheque balances were first verified, and before clearance, the amount written on the cheque was altered in both figures and words.
Subsequently, these tampered cheques were cleared from the National Bank, Saidu Sharif branch, Swat, without fulfilling mandatory requirements.
The Finance Department stated that these fraudulent transactions were carried out in violation of prescribed financial rules and without the involvement of the relevant Accounts Office.
Over a period of seven years, serious violations—including breaches of Federal Treasury Rules—were committed.
Upon receiving the information, the Finance Department contacted the District Accounts Office and bank authorities.
As a result, Rs 9.3 million have been recovered and deposited back into the government treasury.
The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Finance Department has written to the Department of Climate Change, Forests & Wildlife, directing immediate action to register an FIR against the involved employee(s) or accused persons and to place their names on the Exit Control List (ECL).
The Finance Department has further stated that more details will be shared as the investigation progresses.
