BoK scam
PESHAWAR: The inquiry committee of the provincial cabinet probing the Bank of Khyber (BoK) issue found all the allegations against Finance Minister Muzaffar Sayyid as baseless, but it failed to suggest any disciplinary action against the managing director of the bank for violating his mandate and maligning the minister.
The committee Friday presented its report in the provincial cabinet, which met here with Chief Minister Pervez Khan Khattak in the chair. The cabinet accorded approval to the report besides taking a number of other decisions.
Special Assistant to Chief Minister on Information Mushtaq Ahmad Ghani briefed the media after the cabinet meeting.
According to the minister, the committee found that BoK Managing Director Shamsul Qayyum had violated his written agreement made at the time of his appointment by publishing an advertisement in the press without bringing it into the notice of the provincial government.
The committee suggested that such behaviour should be discouraged. The committee also asked the chief minister to issue strict directives to all the departments to avoid publicity of their internal issues and controversies. It also suggested that media and other sources should not be used against government functionaries.
Some sources privy to the meeting told The News that the inquiry committee found anomalies in the appointment of the managing director and decided to seek explanation from him.
The Jamaat-e-Islami wanted removal of the managing director for damaging its reputation by levelling baseless allegations against their minister. However, the committee didn’t make any such recommendation.
It suggested making a search and select committee for the appointment of managing director on the pattern of the search and academic committee for appointment of vice-chancellors. It said, if necessary, the Bank of Khyber Act should be amended for the purpose.
Mushtaq Ghani was of the opinion that there should be a team of banking experts for the appointment under the rules of Banking Council of Pakistan through written examination and interview.
He said the discretionary powers of the bank management for appointments should be withdrawn.
The committee further suggested that complaints of the bank employees and the Voluntary Separation Scheme (VSS) should be sent to the board of the bank for review.
The committee also recommended immediate reinstatement of all the bank officials who were sacked without fulfillment of codal formalities after the publication of the advertisement against the minister.
It may be recalled that the management of the bank published an advertisement in a major national daily newspapers against Finance Minister Muzaffar Sayyid of Jamaat-e-Islami levelling serious allegations of misuse of power and intervention in bank affairs.
The provincial government took notice of the issue and formed a cabinet committee under Senior Minister Sikandar Sherpao to look into the matter.
Mushtaq Ghani said the committee couldn’t find any truth in the allegations against the minister.
To a question that what action was suggested against the bank’s managing director, the minister said it was a preliminary report and the provincial government was still thinking about action against the official in question.
The minister also briefed media about other decisions taken by the cabinet.
He said in order to improve the medical sector, the provincial cabinet accorded approval to the establishment of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Faculty of Paramedical and Allied Health Sciences for the education, training and registration of paramedics and other health professionals.
The faculty would also improve the examination system of the health workers.
About the illegally cut trees in Kohistan and Torghar districts, the committee decided that the matter should be sent to the sub-committee of the cabinet once again do that it could decide the matter in line with market rates of the woods.
The cabinet also approved auction of the legally cut trees in the two districts after the verification of the 5.71 million cubic feet wood and fulfillment of forest department’s requirements.
About the tax exemption on lease and auction of small minerals in Malakand division, the cabinet formed a committee under provincial Minister for Mines and Minerals Anisa Zeb Tahirkheli with ministers Habibur Rahman, Mehmud Khan and Imtiaz Shahid Qureshi to submit a report to the cabinet.
The cabinet also approved regularisation of the support staff of the homeopaths in various public sector hospitals.
