KARACHI: Officers of DMC East’s Outdoor Advertising Department are allegedly involved in corruption of billions of rupees by illegally allowing billboards on private properties, it has been revealed.
According to details, the Anti-Corruption Establishment had launched an inquiry into widespread corruption in the Eastern Municipality’s outdoor advertising department.
However, according to sources, then Deputy Director of Anti-Corruption, Zameer Abbasi, received a huge amount of bribe and suppressed the inquiry a few days later.
The names of the officers involved in the inquiry include Municipal Commissioner of East Wasim Mustafa Soomro, Director Abdul Ghani, Deputy Director Akhlaq Ahmed, and Inspector Advertising Fazal Abbas.
Surprisingly, the anti-corruption department did not include the deputies and assistant directors who handled the department’s relevant advertising matters, while Akhlaq Ahmed used to supervise the shop boards, which was not banned by the Supreme Court.
Earlier in 2016, the apex court order had ordered the removal of all the billboards from public properties and roads across the city, including the cantonment areas and housing societies. On Friday, two motorcyclists were severely injured near the Metropole Hotel in District South when a billboard attached to a building fell on them due to thunderstorms.
However, district municipalities and cantonment boards across the city were violating the Supreme Court’s orders by allowing billboards on buildings.
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