Pak officer steals wallet, faces heat

Islamabad, Oct. 1: A video showing a senior Pakistani bureaucrat stealing the wallet of a visiting Kuwaiti dignitary has gone viral on social media, prompting authorities to suspend the high- ranking official, according to media reports.

The dignitary was part of a high- level delegation which was in the country to discuss bilateral trade.

Zarrar Haider Khan, joint secretary of the Ministry of Industries and Production and a BS20 officer of the state bureaucracy's elite Pakistan Administrative Service, was caught on CCTV cameras while pocketing the wallet which had a significant sum of Kuwaiti dinars,

Dawn news reported. In the six- second video clip, the bureaucrat could be seen lifting the wallet from the table and putting it into his pocket at a time when the Kuwaiti delegates and officials of the ministry had left the hall of the Economic Affairs Division after their meeting. The guilty joint secretary has been suspended from service on disciplinary grounds after he was caught stealing.

The issue came to light when a member of the Kuwaiti delegation lodged a complaint with officials regarding his missing wallet.

A search was conducted in the ministry and all rooms and offices combed. The footage captured by a CCTV camera installed in the hall was examined later, which revealed that the theft was committed by the senior officer.

■ JOINT SECRETARY of Ministry of Industries was caught on cameras while pocketing the wallet which had large sum of Kuwaiti dinars.