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Friday March 29, 2024

Helicopter use, forest land cases: KP CM appears before NAB

By Akhtar Amin
April 26, 2018

PESHAWAR: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, on Wednesday handed over questionnaires to Chief Minister Pervaiz Khattak as he appeared before the investigation team for an inquiry into the use of the KP government helicopter by the PTI chief Imran Khan and the scandal of leasing 275 acres of Forest Department land in Malam Jabba.

A source in the NAB KP told The News that in the questionnaire about the use of helicopter, the NAB asked about the government and commercial use of the KP government's helicopter, expenses of its maintenance and other issues.

Talking to media after appearing before the NAB investigation team, Chief Minister Pervaiz Khattak said he welcomed the NAB inquiry. "I, being the chief executive of the province, appeared before the NAB for accountability. The NAB should do accountability of all," Pervaiz Khattak said. He added he has no objection to the NAB inquiries. "I don't consider the NAB investigations as a reprisal against me," he added.

Khattak said he appeared in two inquiries related to use of helicopter and the lease of Malam Jabba land and the government would provide answers to the questions. He maintained there is no standard operating procedure (SOPs) for the use of government helicopter, but it is a tradition that the governor and the chief minister use it.

The chief minister said the questionnaires have been received and he would submit a written reply to them. He also said that he came to the NAB office without any protocol.

Earlier, a list of the persons who travelled with Imran Khan in the official helicopter was handed over to the NAB. On the direction of NAB chairman, the NAB KP had started investigations into the use of KP government helicopter by Imran Khan. The sources said five officers, including one civil aviation officer and four administration officers recorded their statements in the case. The NAB KP was also provided the purchase agreement for the helicopters and the rules and regulations related to the use of the aircraft. Reportedly, the KP government spent millions of rupees on Imran's use of helicopters.

The KP NAB has also started an inquiry into the mega scandal of leasing out the Forest Department's 275 acres of protected land in Malam Jabba. The Malam Jabba forests were the property of the Swat ruler; however, after the dissolution of One-Unit status of Pakistan in 1970, the status of Swat and Chitral as the princely states came to an end. Following that all the forests in Swat were handed over to the Forest Department. On December 15, 1972, the forest lands measuring 270 acres were declared protected. Again on December 20-22, 1975, the 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 or granting access to it. However, during the PTI-led provincial government, 275 acres of the Forest Department was leased out.