NAB orders inquiry into Malam Jabba land lease scandal

PESHAWAR: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) chairman has ordered an inquiry into the mega scandal of leasing out Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Forest Department’s 275 acres of protected land in Malam Jabba and directed the KP NAB director general (DG) to immediately secure the relevant record and launch an inquiry in this regard. Various irregularities and illegal acts were detected in the Malam Jabba lease agreement.

According to details, NAB Chairman Justice (retd) Javed Iqbal has taken notice of leasing out of 275-acre protected land of Forest Department to a private company Samson Group of Companies Lahore at tourist resort Malam Jabba in Swat. He has directed KP NAB DG to immediately secure all relevant documents including the lease agreement, and launch an inquiry in this regard.

According to sources close to NAB chairman, he has termed the mega scandal a typical example of misuse of the authority, in which fairness has been compromised. According to sources, the chairman has directed KP NAB DG Brig (retd) Farooq Nasir Awan to maintain status quo in this case. When contacted, Farooq Nasir said the KP NAB has launched an inquiry into the mega scandal on the directions of the NAB chairman.

Malam Jabba forests were the property of the Swat ruler; however, after dissolution of One-Unit status of Pakistan in 1970, the status of Swat and Chitral as the princely states came to an end. Then all forests in Swat were handed over to the Forest Department. On Dec 15, 1972, under a letter No 10/16-11-SOTA/72-1521, the Forest lands measuring 270 acres were declared protected. Again on Dec 20-22, 1975, in a letter No 168-V (FAD) SAOFT/71 (i), this land was declared a protected area of the department.

According to the Forest Department, the Tourism Department could not sign any agreement for leasing the land out or grant access to it. However, during the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf led provincial government, 275 acres of the Forest Department have been leased out illegally. Now the provincial government wanted to change the original agreement to avoid accountability.

It may be recalled here that the KP government decided to construct a hotel at Malam Jabba on February 27, 2014. Under the government ToRs, a five-star hotel was to be constructed on five acres of land, and under the BOT (build, operate & transfer) terms and conditions, the owners of the hotel was to get access to 270 acres of the Forest Department lands. The Board of Investment & Trade (BoIT) released an advertisement on March 3, 2014, asking companies to submit the expression of interest (EoI) in the project. The interested parties were asked to submit proposals under BOT terms and conditions. The date for submission of proposals was fixed March 31, 2014, which was later extended till April 10, 2014.

A committee was formed under ex-additional chief secretary Khalid Pervaiz to finalise details of the lease agreement. The incumbent chief secretary, Azam Khan, was then serving as secretary Tourism. The committee constituted a sub-committee under MD Tourism Corporation Mushtaq Khan to look into all proposals submitted by the private firms and send them for approval of the committee.

As the committee had not set any criteria for selection of the company, which made the entire process suspicious. Samson company deposited Rs6 million with the application on April 8, and then deposited Rs12 million on May 15, after lapse of 35 days of the deadline. However, the sub-committee accepted it and gave final approval on May 26, 2014.

Under the rules, decision about the final bidder had to be made on the first bidding. On Aug 12, 2014, secretary tourism gave a briefing on the bidding process to a meeting held with Additional Chief Secretary Khalid Pervaiz in the chair.

According to documents available with the reporter, Law Secretary Muhammad Arifain objected to lease period of 33 years, saying lease period should be 15 years under the law and it could be extended maximum by another 15 years. However, Chief Minister Pervaiz Khattak relaxed the rules and extended the lease period to 33 years. A written agreement was signed between the KP government and Samson company.

The PTI-led KP government violated all laws and leased out 275 acres of Forest Department land, instead of five acres, to the Samson company on Sept 24, 2014.

On April 15, 2015, former chairman of the Ehtesab Commission, General (retd) Hamid Khan, expressed his serious reservations over the agreement and asked the government to review it. The CM Inspection Team had also termed the agreement illegal and launched investigation into it. However, nothing came out as the Ehtesab Commission has become redundant, while the CM Inspection Team’s report has been thrown into dustbin.

General (retd) Hamid Khan had raised objections in his letter, IW/EC/MalamJabba/ 01, on April 15, 2015, saying the bidding process was suspicious. The Samson company submitted the amount late and it has no experience in hotel industry. The letter said that the lease contract was given to a favourite company.

Similar suspicions were expressed by the CM Inspection Team head in a letter (PIT/2015/ INSP/27/43-0541) on February 26, 2016.

According to official documents, three other departments – Environment, Wildlife, and Forests – also objected to the project. However, the Tourism Department neither consulted these departments before leasing out the land nor paid any heed to their objections later on.