RAWALPINDI: Five officials of the education department and the accounts office were arrested by the Civil Lines police for their alleged involvement in the recruitment of 50 ghost employees in the education department.

The arrests were made on the directions of District Coordination Officer (DCO) Sajid Zafar Dall. The DCO also directed the executive district officer education to send the case to the anti-corruption department for further proceeding.

The DCO took the decision after an inquiry carried out by Executive District Officer (education) Qazi Zahoorul Haq pointed out the involvement of 30 to 40 officials of the city district government in the appointment of the ghost employees.

As many as 50 fake employees were detected in the department two in BPS16 and the remaining in BPS-14 and BPS9. A group of clerks of the accounts office and the e ducation departments and a ven-dor, who issued fake domicile certificates to the ghost employees, were involved in the scam. The ghost employees were detected in Kalar Syedan by the deputy district officer (DDO) of the area. The DDO reported to the accounts department that these employees were not working with him but drawing salaries.

Talking to Dawn, the DCO said a mafia was involved in the scam who issued fake domicile and medical certificates to a group of people who then managed to get salaries worth Rs5.5 million from the government accounts.

He said the main accused in the scam was a clerk, Mohammad Riaz, who had been missing for over a month. He said the anti-corruption department would summon the fake employees as well as the government officials to probe them about their involvement in the case.

The DCO said he had directed the education department to lodge a case with the Civil Lines police. In the second stage, the case would be referred to the anti-corruption department, he added.