PESHAWAR: A cabinet committee investigating a public spat between the provincial finance minister and the Bank of Khyber (BoK) managing director has bailed out both, saying the entire episode was a result of communication gap and misunderstanding between the two.

The inquiry committee’s report submitted to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Pervez Khattak appears to be aimed at defusing a simmering row between the Jamaat-i-Islami and BoK Managing Director Shamsul Qayyum.

The JI has been demanding the termination of contract of Mr Qayyum, accusing him of levelling what it describes as baseless allegations against its Finance Minister Muzaffar Said.

According to sources, efforts were already afoot to persuade the JI to drop its demand and avoid leaving the coalition. Several meetings have taken place between the government’s emissaries and JI leaders, including a meeting with CM Khattak.

On the other hand, the JI continues to stick to its demand for the MD’s removal. The party’s provincial chief Muhstaq Ahmed Khan told Dawn that the report had established misconduct on the part of Mr Qayyum and now the JI would ask the chief minister to sack him.

“It is our demand that the current MD should immediately be fired from his job,” Mr Khan said, adding that they would sit down with the chief minister to discuss the matter.

The 31-page report, a copy of which is available with Dawn, terms the entire episode a result of “communication gap and misunderstanding which strained relations between the finance minister and the MD”.

The five-member committee, headed by KP senior Minister for Irrigation and Social Welfare Sikandar Sherpao, was formed on April 16 to probe the spat, which started after the MD published an advertisement in newspapers, accusing Mr Said of wrongdoings.

In its report, the committee noted that the MD had made a gross violation of his agreement with the provincial government by issuing the offending advertisement and making administrative issues public without first referring such issues to the government.

However, the committee avoided recommending any penalty for Mr Qayyum and instead cautioned the government departments to avoid such behaviour. It called upon the chief minister to issue directives to all departments, restraining them from making inter-departmental disputes public and using advertisements in media in any form against a public official. To address the controversy surrounding the appointment of the current MD, the committee suggested formation of a search and select committee on the pattern of vice chancellors and chief executives as well as necessary amendments to the BoK Act for the purpose. It called for referring the voluntary separation scheme (VSS) to the institution board for review.

The scheme, which was to be implemented from April 18 to 29, offers employees of up to 50 years an opportunity to dissociate themselves from the bank. The bank said 132 officials were eligible for the VSS.

On April 15, the BoK management had fired five members of the bank officers association, accusing them of misconduct under bank service rules and policies.

The cabinet committee asked a finance department committee to look into appointment made in the bank, besides engaging a reputable auditing firm to prepare a detailed report on the bank’s financial health and future investments.

The committee endorsed the controversial appointment of the MD, saying it was cleared by the State Bank of Pakistan.

The committee has also cleared Muzaffar Said of any wrongdoing, saying that although the finance minister recommended certain cases for low-grade employees (outsourced to private company, not bank), but in most of these cases his recommendatory remarks were like recommended as per policy and regulation.

Published in Dawn, May 4th, 2016