The ACE has omitted important individuals in a case concerning bribery in the appointment of government officials. The individuals named in the case filed by the ACE include Ibrahim Maneka, the son of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chief’s wife, Bushra Bibi, former Punjab chief minister Usman Buzdar, Farhat Shahzadi alias Farah Gogi, senior bureaucrat Tahir Khurshid, Ahmed Aziz Tarar, Saleha Saeed, Usman Muazzam, and Sohail Khawaja. Surprisingly, the ACE has neglected to include the chief secretaries from that period who hold primary responsibility for such appointments. This oversight also casts a shadow on the reputation of diligent and honest officers who may face consequences. According to the ACE, the accused individuals accepted bribes amounting to millions of rupees in exchange for facilitating the appointment and transfer of high-ranking officials within government departments. Farah Gogi allegedly collected and deposited the bribe money in different banks, with around Rs450 million already recovered, as claimed in the FIR. The FIR further states that Tahir Khurshid, Ahmed Aziz Tarar, Saleha Saeed, Usman Muazzam, and Sohail Khawaja, all senior bureaucrats, would visit Farah Gogi’s residence and provide her with their respective shares of the bribe money, totalling millions of rupees. Ahmed Mansoor and Muhammad Asif, the personal staff of Farah Gogi, would then deposit the collected bribes into her personal account at a private bank branch in Liberty, Lahore. Notably, this marks the first time in ACE’s history that certain bureaucrats, including Tahir Khurshid (formerly the chief secretary of Punjab), Ahmed Aziz Tarar (DMG officer), and Saleha Saeed (former deputy commissioner of Lahore), have been named in an FIR. In the past, former ACE directors-general were hesitant to file FIRs against DMG officers.
