PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government on Monday formed a cabinet committee to investigate the controversy surrounding a public spat between finance minister Muzafar Said and the Bank of Khyber’s management.

Also in the day, a senior executive of the BOK quit his job.

Special assistant to the chief minister on information Mushtaq Ahmed Ghani told Dawn that Chief Minister Pervez Khattak had constituted a four-member committee to probe the issue.

He said the committee to be headed by senior minister for irrigation Sikandar Sherpao would have senior minister for health Shahram Khan Tarakai, public health engineering minister Shah Farman and law minister Imtiaz Shahid Qureshi as members, while the principal secretary to the chief minister would act as the secretary to the committee.

Mr. Ghani said the committee had been tasked with submitting its report within three days to the chief minister.

He said the committee members would meet both the bank’s management and finance minister to ascertain facts about the matter.

Sikandar Sherpao-led panel given three days to submit report to CM

Meanwhile, Mr. Imran Samad, an executive vice president and group head of business development at the BOK, resigned from his post.

An office memorandum, a copy of which is available with Dawn, said Mr. Samad had resigned from the bank’s service and that the competent authority had accepted his resignation with immediate effect.

A senior bank official said Mr. Samad had stepped down for personal reasons and that it had nothing to do with the current situation.

Insiders, however, said Mr. Samad, who had in the past served as the acting managing director at the bank, was dejected at the current situation and therefore, he tendered his resignation.

Mr. Samad was credited for the bank performance as the acting MD before its current head, Shamsul Qayyum, took over.

A bank official requesting anonymity expressed shock at Mr. Samad’s resignation.

“He was in a very good position, so why such a person would resign all of sudden,” he said.

The official said senior employees of the bank were worried for their jobs due to the uncertainty surrounding the voluntary separation scheme, which the management intended to implement from April 18 to April 29, offered employees up to 50 years of age an opportunity to disassociate themselves from the bank.

He said on Monday, some old employees were asked to resign or face termination.

In the day, strict security was seen at the bank headquarters located on the Mall.

Six policemen were deployed at the entrance in addition to the bank’s own guards. Usually, two to three guards stand there.

A policeman told Dawn that the top bosses at the West Cantonment police station had ordered the police deployment at the bank over security concerns.

When contacted, SP (cantonment) Kashif Zulfiqar said he had not received any request for the police’s deployment at the bank.

Also in the day, finance minister Muzafar Said published an advertisement in a local Urdu newspaper denying the bank’s allegations leveled through a recent newspaper advertisement.

The advertisement read that the BoK MD while overstepping his authority has levelled baseless allegations against the finance minister and his party.

It added that no relative of the minister was employed in the bank nor had he pressure the bank’s administration for postings and that the MD himself had made all appointments to the bank.

The advertisement said the KP Ehtesab Commission was investigating the alleged irregularity in the MD’s appointment on the complaint of the Bank Officers Association.

It said the provincial government owned 70 percent of the bank’s shares and that the finance department and its minister were responsible for protecting the public and private money and the rights of employees.

Meanwhile, the Khyber Union of Journalist also staged a demonstration against the BOK MD outside the Peshawar Press Club and demanded his immediate sacking over false propaganda against senior local journalists.

It also set the deadline of a week for the government to form a judicial committee to look into irregularities at the bank.

The protesters insisted the BOK MD was trying to gag media but they would foil such attempts.

KhUJ president Saiful Islam Saifi and other office-bearers spoke on the occasion.

Published in Dawn, April 19th, 2016