MULTAN: An accountability court on Wednesday granted 13-day physical remand of former chief engineer Sabir Khan Sadozai and five other officials to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) in Multan`s Metro bus scandal.

Besides Sadozai, executive engineers Amanat Ali and Riaz Hussain, subdivisional officers Manzoor Ahmed, Rana Wasim and Munim Saeed were presented in court after 13-day physical remand and Investigation Officer Muhammad Shahid requested for further remand which was granted. The court directed to represent the accusedincourtonOct8.

The IO told the court that the accused misused their authority by committing acts contrary to the instruction of the Planning and Development Board Punjab and processing the approval of the bill of quantities items at higher rates causing loss of millions of rupees, split the PC-I of the project into eight packages instead of single PC-I, conducted non-transparent pre-qualification of contractors and consultants in violation of the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority rules and instructions of the Planning and Development Division.

He stated that theaccused approved technical sanction detail estimates on the basis of the National Highway Authority templates instead of market rate schedule (MRS) of the Punjab government contrary to the instructions of the P&D Board Punjab on March 9, 2015 which resulted into loss of Rs721 million to the national exchequer, processed the approval of grant of extension of time after lapse of 18 months and allowed payment of speedy execution at Spc of contract price instead of imposing penalty required under clause 39 of the contract agreement resulting into loss of Rs1,044 million and processed the approval of illegal payment to the tune of Rs80 million on account of wooden planks/precast planks used for shuttering purpose.

The accused were arrested on Sept 13 after the NAB chairman issued their arrest warrants a day earlier. They were produced before the court on Sept 14 and court granted their 13-day physical remand.

The defence counsel told the court the duty of the accused engineers was to see that the work was carried out as per the PC-I which they performed accurately and honestly while it was the responsibility of the consultants to process, finance and complete the task. They stated the accused did not make any illegal payment to anyone.