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Malam Jabba: example of sheer misuse of authority

By Arshad Aziz Malik
December 11, 2018

PESHAWAR: Malam Jabba scandal is a clear example of sheer misuse of authority in Pakistan, in which political figures and bureaucracy violated the government rules at will and illegally allotted 270-acre Forest land to a company.

It is a responsibility of National Accountability Bureau to expose real culprits behind the scam, while giving punishment to them is the domain of the courts of law. Currently, a campaign has been launched in the media to absolve some of the accused of charges of wrongdoings.

This correspondent broke the scandal on January 3, 2018, but did not hold anyone responsible for it. Only facts were brought to light and six serious irregularities were pointed out. Provincial Ehtesab Commission and Chief Minister’s Inspection Team had also confirmed those irregularities. Talking action on the news story, NAB launched a probe but failed to complete it even in 11 months. The political motives behind the scan had not been brought to light so far.

However, recently, a new development took place on the scandal scene. NAB Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa has summoned a provincial minister for Dec 14 who had attended a meeting, called in connection with the signing of Malam Jabba Resort agreement. He, being the then education minister, had attended one such meeting, and NAB wanted to investigate him. According to NAB sources, the former education minister had showed keen interest in the agreement. According to written proceedings of the meeting, the former minister had expressed concerns over delay in signing of the agreement, though he had no direct link with the matter. He is stated to be a close relative of the owner of Samson Group of Companies, Samiur Rehman. However, no contact could be established with him through telephone, mobile phone or Whatsapp message to get his version.

However, sources close to him said the former education minister had no link with the matter. Currently, he is serving as the provincial minister for tourism, culture and sports. Meanwhile, NAB has also summoned former head of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Board of Investment, Mohsin Aziz, for Friday.

The provincial government is trying to hush up the matter. It attempted to transfer Malam Jabba Forest Department protected lands to Tourism Department. However, NAB restrained the provincial government from doing so.

According to official facts and figures, 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.

Seven companies submitted the EoI letters, including Waqas Traders Islamabad, Zafarullah Khan Peshawar, Trade Source Lahore, Samson Group of Companies Lahore, SMP Islamabad, Parks Pakistan Lahore, and Test Enterprises Lahore. 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.

Another irregularity surfaced at that time when the committee, in the ToRs, did not fixed standard or procedure for selection of company, which made the whole process suspicious. The sub-committee reviewed seven applications on July 13, 2014 and in it three companies were declared eligible on technical basis in which 5.76 marks were awarded to Parks Pakistan, while 6.3 marks to SMP Islamabad and 5.60 marks to Samson Group of Companies were given. However, Samson Group was awarded first position with 35.72 per cent after the opening of financial bids.

The third serious irregularity was revealed at that time when Samson Group submitted Rs6 million first auction money per annum on April 8, 2014 and then after 35 days of expiry date (May 15, 2014) the group deposited Rs12 million which the sub-committee accepted it and gave its approval on May 26, 2014. The decision was to be taken on the first auction under the rules.

The meeting of central committee chaired by Additional Chief Secretary Khalid Pervez was held on August 12, 2014 in which secretary tourism gave briefing to the meeting. On that occasion, additional chief secretary asked MD Tourism Mushtaq Khan that whether the legal department reviewed the draft of the agreement. MD replied that their legal advisor gave its approval.

According to the documents, the fourth irregularity was surfaced when the concerned department tried to extend lease from 15 years to 33 years. On it Secretary Law Muhammad Arfain objected the move and said that 15 years lease could be given under the rules which could be extended for 15 more years. However, chief minister Pervez Khattak gave approval in the extension of period by softening the laws, though the chief minister could not make any such extension without approval of cabinet. However, after four years in 2018 the previous government in its last meeting of cabinet gave approval to this agreement.

The 5th irregularity came to light at that time when the government leased out 275 acre of Forest Department instead of 15 acre land to Samson Company.

The 6th irregularity was exposed when Samson company was given 275 acres of land for 33 years on lease under the part A-6 of the agreement and then another 20 years extension was also given. The former head of Ehtesab Commission General (retd) Hamid Khan expressed serious reservations on this agreement on April 15, 2015 and recommended the government to review the issues. The chief minister’s inspection team started investigation into the matter by declaring this agreement illegal but the staff of Ehtesab Commission became dysfunctional and the report of the CM inspection team was thrown into dustbin.

Doubts and suspicions are being created in connection with land of Malam Jabba. Although the documents are available which show that this area is protected area of Forest Department. The status of the states of Swat and Chitral was abolished after the end of one unit in 1970 and after that the area of Malam Jabba went to Forest Department.

According to Forest Department, Tourism Department could not have right of access or enter into any deed of lease with anybody because the Forest Department is the owner of that land. According to the document, Environment, Wild Life and Forest departments raised objection on the agreement. Forest Department stopped Samson Company form work on 270 acre of protected land when the issues were made public in connection with the lease agreement of Malam Jabba land in 2015.