Five held in forest royalty corruption case
By Zulfiqar Ahmad
ISLAMABAD, Aug 20: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB), Khyber Pakhtunkhwaon, on Thursday arrested Prince Khalid Pervez, the APML member-elect of the District Council Chitral along with four other people for their alleged involvement in the embezzlement of Rs76 million forest royalty.
A statement issued by NAB Islamabad said that its KP chapter arrested Gulzarur Rehman, former divisional forest officer Chitral currently working as an assistant professor at the Forest College, Peshawar, Prince Khalid Pervez, Noor Shahideen, Rehmat Karim and Malak Shaye.
It said that the bureau arrested them for allegedly depriving genuine concessionists of the forest royalty amounting to Rs76 million.
“On the complaint of poor concessionists of a locality from Chitral, NAB KP initiated an inquiry which revealed that Noor Shahideen made a fake joint forest management committee (JFMC) and fraudulently made himself chairman through the active connivance of other accused persons.”
As per policy of forest department /government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, forest royalty shall be distributed amongst the concessionists of the locality equally.
The accused persons later diverted and embezzled an amount of Rs76 million through complex banking transactions and pocketed the amount.
An official of NAB said NAB KP was actively perusing the case, adding the accused would be produced before an accountability court in Peshawar for obtaining their physical remand.
An example of the perverse incentives that led to the spread of local corruption was the change in national forestry regulations that gave districts the authority to issue permits to allow loggers to clearcut forest areas of up to 100 hectares without submitting to the national permitting process, which requires more onerous steps such as environmental impact assessments and local consultations. This fueled a logging boom as district heads and loggers conspired to circumvent the national permitting process by creating large blocks of contiguous 100 hectare plots.
I agree with my brother Gul Aman Khan of Canada. But at the same time we, the people of Chitral, demand the top anti-graft body to check the bank balance of the PPP leaders from Chitral. The account details along with their relatives, lifestyle, properties, shoukd also be audited in order to ensure the ongoing process of accountability. The big luxury hotels, bungalows, land cruisers as well as housing socities should also be looked into. Besides, the retired govt officials who immediately joined the bandwagon of PTI to skip the accountability also be made accountable. Is it possible for tiny govt employee to build a sprawling house in Chitral town and Hayatabad despite having a large family. The MNA, the trokia of MPAs as well as those serving or retired in the district food department. Is it possible for a tiny lawyer to buy a huge house in an expensive locality like Chitral by practicing at the district courts of Chitral.
PS: If Abdul Lateef of PTI is spared by NAB and KP Ehtisab Commision, the whole accountability process will dubbed as nothing political victimization of opponents. He should be made accountable. Besides, the people of Chitral should pinpoint these corrupt people by sending complaints agaibst them so that the govt can take action.
It is appreciable but not abundant to arrest only one person or few by the NAB .In Chitral there are a strong and underground corruption mafia groups are still visible ,one of the top culprit is just recently took sheltered under the umbrella of another party because the said party is an allie in the Faderal Government. we are requesting and urging the NAB authorities to farther spread this investigation and look the properties of these so called public representitives before and after sovereignty,so then people should know how much black money they have and this illegal Money they owe to the public of Chitral.
total travesty of justice and shows biased approach and political victimization of opponents by pti govt of kp. the pti govt should first put its own house in order and stop this drama. why no action has been taken against pti leader in Chitral who was even fined for cutting trees and has not even paid that fine by moving court.
the so called ehtesab commission is going only against those who are opposed to pti provincial govt. law should be applied to all equally.
Abb aa gaya aunt pahar k niche.
CORRECTION NAB should also do its home work properly and find out that these so called poor concessionists are no other than Haji Mohammed Khan and his bunch of fraud people who have been milking this money for years. This is a case between two fraud groups for the same banu of Pakhti slurrrp. Both the groups should be behind bars for the fraud and hoodwinking NAB. These so called poor concessionists are all Wolf in sheep’s clothing.
It is a very good development. NAB should also arrest former PTI district president Abdul Lateef as he he was also allegedly involved in illegal cutting of trees. If he is not arrested, the recent arrest of these by NAB will be seen as a mere eyewash. The media reports against Abdul Lateef is on record and the bureau must take action against him as the newly established KP Ehtisab Commission has failed to take any action against him despite knowing his involvement in illegal cutting of trees.
So what the nab will do and what it has done before, half bribe and one month after every one will forget and back to the ground for the next game.