QUETTA - National Accountability Bureau-Balochistan (NAB-Balochistan chapter) on Tuesday arrested former food minister of the province and sitting legislator Mir Izhar Hussain Khosa over corruption charges in Quetta wheat embezzlement scam.
The former food minister had allegedly inflicted a heavy loss of Rs280 million on the national exchequer during his tenure as minister.
“The NAB-Balochistan chapter has apprehended former food minister Izhar Khosa over corruption charges,” said a press release of the bureau.
The initial probe by the anti-graft organization suggests that Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz lawmaker had caused a heavy loss of Rs280 million on the national exchequer through embezzlement.
The investigation further revealed that the ex-food minister Izhar Khosa – violating rules – appointed a grade-6 employee Inayat as in-charge of PRC Food Center Sariab Road.
During this period, the ex-minister, in a fraudulent collusion, had embezzled 65,000 wheat sacks from the food center and inflicted a loss of Rs280 million on national exchequer.
Earlier, the NAB, taking notice on public complaints, had filed three references worth Rs2 billion in accountability court against former food minister Asfandyar Khan Kakar, former secretary food and other high ranking officers.
The NAB officials have shifted the accused to bureau’s jail. He will be produced before the accountability court on Wednesday (today) for judicial remand.
The NAB was expecting more arrests in the case.
Izhar Khosa was elected as member provincial assembly from PB-27 Jaffarabad in 2013 general elections. He is also one of the few loyalists who stood firm by the PML-N former chief minister Nawab Sanaullah Zehri when a no-trust motion against him was moved in Balochistan Assembly.