MPA accuses JI chief of corruption

PESHAWAR: Former provincial minister Ziaullah Afridi on Tuesday alleged that Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) chief Senator Sirajul Haq committed corruption when he was the finance minister.

“I will move the court of law and will produce evidence against the JI leader, who indulged in wrongdoings,” he told a press conference at the Peshawar Press Club.

Ziaullah Afridi said the JI leader made illegal appointments in the Bank of Khyber (BoK) when he was the provincial finance minister.

He said that Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan and Senator Sirajul Haq lied to the people about the BoK scandal.

He said that illegal appointments made in BoK by Sirajul Haq should be probed. “It would turn into a huge embarrassment for the JI to defend Sirajul Haq if these allegations are probed properly,” he added.

He claimed the PTI-led Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government had sold out huge BoK shares to Rashid Khan, a close confidant of Chief Minister Pervez Khattak and extended billions of rupees loans to people from outside the province as well.

He opined that the BoK was at the verge of default owing to the wrong policies of the provincial government. “Chief Minister Pervez Khattak, Imran Khan and Managing Director BoK Shamsul Qayyum are responsible for the sorry state of affairs of the bank,” he maintained.

He alleged that Rashid Khan, who has become a main character in the money trail case against Imran Khan, was running the affairs of BoK.

Challenging Imran Khan and Sirajul Haq to a public debate over their claims of transparent accountability in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Ziaullah Afridi said the two were lying to hoodwink the people of other provinces.

“I wanted to warn the people of Punjab, Sindh and Balochistan to beware of the two as they are trying to mislead them by making hollow claims,” he said.

He wondered as to why Pervez Khattak and provincial Finance Minister Muzaffar Sayyid did not offer themselves for accountability in view of allegations against them. “Why the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Ehtesab Commission didn’t take action despite the scandal at the bank?” he asked.

He said that Imran Khan’s politics revolved on taking control of Punjab and, therefore, he did not care for the people of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

He said that more corruption scandals in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa would emerge in the coming days.