Chief secretary, director anti-corruption standoff

Zia refuses to relinquish charge, informs CM of anomalies

PESHAWAR: For those in the know of the recent bureaucratic infighting, the issue between the chief secretary and director Anti-Corruption Establishment Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is likely to further intensify after the later refused to relinquish the charge of his office.

It has been observed that the provincial government has made numerous bids to embark upon its agenda of change in the province, but bureaucratic infighting, particularly between the top-bureaucrat and police high-ups and that of the provincial civil servants (PCS) officers with the Pakistan Administrative Service (PAS) previously known as DMG (district management group) officers, failed it.

The recent squabble between Chief Secretary Amjid Ali Khan and Director Anti-Corruption Ziaullah Khan Toru, that began months ago, had apparently culminated in the abrupt transfer of the later on Monday. But it didn’t stop there as the sources privy to the interactions taking place following the rushed transfer of director Anti-Corruption Establishment told The News on Tuesday that the under-transfer officer, Zia Toru, has refused to leave the charge.

They said Zai soon after the issuance of the notification of his transfer on Monday night sought audience of the chief minster to explain his side to the story.

The sources further informed that the director Anti-Corruption in his presentation to the chief minister showed the files to substantiate his claim that he was removed from his job when he tried to expose corruption in the administration. They said, however the chief minister, while assuming his distinctive and inimitable calm and cool attitude, listened to the official and assured him of taking it up with the chief secretary.

The sources said that the officer had brought a bundle of files with himself and repeatedly referred to hard data to show performance of the ACE during his stint of less than two years. They said that the director Anti-Corruption informed the chief minister that he had booked officials from grade-1 to 21 on corruption charges that annoyed many in the bureaucratic sphere in province. He also gave details of the money recovered by the Anti-Corruption Establishment over the last two year. The director reportedly informed that his team had recovered Rs1.6 billion during his tenure of less than two years, while the Anti-Corruption Establishment had recovered Rs340 million since its establishment about sixty years ago.

The situation is expected to get worse by next two or three days as, according to the sources, the provincial government has made its mind to opt for a shakeup in bureaucracy to settle the issue.

Meanwhile, sources in the Establishment Division Islamabad, told The News that the name of one of the three senior bureaucrats—Capt (Retd) Khalid Pervez, Dr Hamad Awais Agha and Arif Arbaf—,who remained under consideration to replace the chief secretary Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, has almost been approved.