4 senior Pak educationists arrested on corruption charges

Peshawar, Sep 15 (PTI) Four top Pakistani educationists, including two university Vice Chancellors, were arrested today over huge corruption charges and misuse of authority in the country's northwest.
National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Khyber Pakhtunkhwa arrested Ihsan Ali; sitting VC of Khan Abdul Wali Khan University Mardan, Professor Syed Sakhawat Shah; former VC Hazara University, Muhammad Aziz Khan; Chairman NIMS College of Medicines Abbottabad and Professor Hamayun Zia; Ex-Chairman Higher Education Regulatory Authority (HERA).
The accused persons are allegedly involved in misuse of authority and cheating public at large by luring students to get admission in an illegal and unregistered medical institution, stripping their parents of more than Rs 550 million, an NAB spokesman said.
An investigation into the charges has shown that Ali and Shah conducted examination and granted affiliation to an illegal medical institute without any medical faculty with National Institute of Medical Sciences (NIMS) Abbottabad.
The duo fleeced parents and played with the students' future, besides wasting their precious time, the inquiry said.
Aziz is accused of willfully indulging in illegal business for monetary gains by admitting students without any lawful mandate.
Zia, in connivance with others, illegally registered NIMS by overlooking serious criteria for registration and also failed to pay periodic regulatory visits, the inquiry stated.
An NAB inuiry is going on into the matter and the four accused will be produced before the Accountability Courts tomorrow for physical custody.