ISLAMABAD: The Transparency International-Pakistan (TI) has urged the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to take notice of allegations levelled by one of the commissioners of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Ehtesab Commission (KPEC) against a provincial cabinet minister and a key official of the commission of illegal appointments and other wrongdoings.
In a letter written to the NAB chairman, TI, while referring a news report published in The News International and Jang dated March 20, 2018, said that it feels that these allegations are true or have some substance in them. Prima facie these acts of KPEC are in violation of Section 9 of the NAO 1999, and attract the provisions of section 10 of the ordinance of which cognisance can be taken by the NAB chairman.
We will, therefore, request the NAB chairman to look into the matter to review the very serious allegations against the KPEC commissioner, and if NAB finds the allegations correct/true, action may be taken under NAO, 1999 so that such violations may not be repeated by any provincial agency in future.
According to the TI letter, the media report has highlighted several allegations levelled by one of the KPEC commissioners against a cabinet minister in the provincial government.
“KPEC is a perfect case of alleged misuse of authority requiring probe by the NAB after one of its commissioners has charged a provincial cabinet minister and a key official of the commission with illegal appointments and other wrongs,” the TI letter says.
It further says Commissioner Syeda Sarwat Jehan has disclosed the irregularities, illegal appointments, concealment of facts and misuse of power by the KP Ehtesab Commission, which has already eaten up more than Rs600 million from the public kitty without getting even a single corrupt convicted or a penny recovered so far.
As per the letter, while quoting the media report, the commissioner has formally approached the chief minister to express her serious concerns about the organisation, which she said, was “established for a noble cause”, but “fell prey to person-specific” amendments and decisions. The official communication contains a lot of ingredients which could invite the NAB attention and its proactive chairman — Justice (retd) Javed Iqbal.
“Commissioner Syda Sarwat Jehan has pointed fingers at one of the key position holders of KPEC and a member of the provincial cabinet for managing amendments to the law to get rid of commission’s one director who had identified irregularities in the appointment in the body formed to check corruption and misuse of authority,” says the letter.
The KPEC commissioner, while issuing the charge-sheet, stated, “Getting rid of Director IM&PC (Internal Monitoring and Public Complaints) by managing to make amendment to the act, supporting the illegal appointees boldly and regularising the services of some of them, ignoring the commissioners in consultation process, making the apex body toothless by withdrawing the overseeing functions of the commissioners, concealing the opinion of the Law Department regarding the illegal status of the acting DG. Delaying the appointment of director general and director IM&PC, through amendments, involving the Admin Committee of PHC in administrative issues of KPEC have thrown it into a deep ditch.” •
The TI letter further says that Jehan explained that the IM&PC director was responsible to monitor the performance of officers of the commission besides maintaining detailed credible record of the investigations and probing allegations of misconduct against officers of the Commission. “Brig (R) Mohammad Tariq was doing his job as per act. After issuance of HR report in which he identified the irregularities, he was ousted from the office by amendment to the act by the director general through the consultative meeting...”
Referring to amendments to the act made in violation of the Constitution, she said, “Currently, the KPEC is in the state of suspension and there is a complete vacuum and blackout as the powers of appointment and overseeing are neither with the commissioners nor with the PHC administrative committee. The position of DG has been vacant since February 2016, and the tenure of commissioners and prosecutor general is also expiring within the next few months. It is a big question as how much period will it take to make new legislation and to appoint the commissioner, DG and PG as their appointment only take 6 months,” says the TI letter.