Islamabad: The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has arrested three employees of the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS), including a woman medico-legal officer (MLO), over allegations of accepting a bribe to issue a fake medico-legal certificate (MLC), but the hospital staff and fellow doctors insist the female officer enjoys an ‘unblemished professional reputation’ and may have been falsely implicated.
The PIMS administration confirmed that three officials from its Medico-Legal Office were taken into custody during an FIA trap operation. Hospital officials said the two male employees had been remanded to FIA custody for investigation, while the woman medico-legal officer, who also serves as Deputy Director (Evening), had been sent to judicial custody.
Senior PIMS officials and doctors described the woman officer as an honest, dedicated and professionally respected healthcare professional with a good service record. While acknowledging that the allegations against all three accused would be decided by the courts, they maintained that the two male employees could have been involved, but believed the female officer had been trapped.
They said the hospital and her colleagues would support all legal efforts to clear her name if the allegations against her proved to be fabricated.
According to the FIA, the arrests were made during a sting operation after the agency received information that officials of the PIMS Medico-Legal Office were allegedly receiving money for preparing fake medico-legal certificates to facilitate registration of false criminal cases.
An FIR registered by the FIA Anti-Corruption Circle Islamabad alleges that an undercover official posed as a complainant seeking a medico-legal certificate. During the operation, marked currency notes amounting to Rs50,000 were allegedly handed over as an advance payment, after which two employees were arrested and the woman medico-legal officer was subsequently taken into custody.
The case has been registered under Sections 420, 468, 471 and 109 of the Pakistan Penal Code read with Section 5(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1947.
The PIMS Executive Director, Dr Rana Imran Sikander, informed the Ministry of National Health Services in an incident report that the FIA had conducted a trap raid at the Medico-Legal Office on July 21 over alleged corruption and arrested the Deputy Director (Evening)/Medico-Legal Officer, a lower division clerk and an acting ward master. He stated that action against the officials would be taken in accordance with the law.
In a separate communication to the ministry, the Executive Director recommended that the woman doctor be placed under suspension following her arrest, citing the applicable service rules. The recommendation was made as an administrative requirement after registration of the FIR and her arrest by the investigating agency.
Hospital officials, however, stressed that suspension was a procedural administrative matter and should not be construed as proof of guilt. They reiterated that the woman officer had earned respect within the institution for her professionalism and integrity and expressed confidence that the judicial process would establish the facts.
Officials said allegations contained in the FIR have yet to be tested before a court of law, and all three accused are presumed innocent unless proven guilty.
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