QUETTA: As Balochistan Finance Secretary Mushtaq Ahmed Raisani was remanded in the custody of the National Accountability Bureau for two weeks, former chief minister Dr Abdul Malik Baloch told the provincial assembly on Saturday that he had no knowledge of corruption in the finance department during his over two-year term.

Dr Baloch, under whose tenure Mr Raisani was posted as the provincial finance secretary in 2013, also presented himself and his party — the National Party — for accountability against the backdrop of Friday’s NAB raid on the residence of Finance Secretary Raisani that resulted in the seizure of over Rs730 million cash, gold and prize bonds.

He made a statement from the floor of the house that he was ready to face any probe by NAB. Terming the action of the apex anti-graft body a positive step, he said that the accountability process should begin from 2002.

He said that he was not aware of any corruption in the finance department when he was the provincial chief executive for two and a half years.

However, Leader of the Opposition in the Balochistan Assembly Maulana Abdul Wasay of the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam took strong exception to his statement and said how could it be possible that a CM was not aware of the corruption of his finance secretary.

“All members of Dr Malik Baloch’s then cabinet, including Nawab Sanaullah Zehri [the current CM] should resign,” he demanded.

Amid a noisy protest, the opposition staged a walkout and made it clear that they would return to the house only after all members of Dr Baloch’s cabinet resigned.

Treasury lawmakers condemned the opposition’s walkout and said that Maulana Wasay had no right to level such allegations when he himself was a senior minister in the previous set-up and allegedly involved in corruption.

Mir Khalid Langov, the adviser to chief minister on finance who has resigned following the arrest of finance secretary Raisani, said that he quit his post because he was unable to carefully monitor the situation.

The assembly unanimously passed a resolution seeking construction of the western route from Zhob to Khajore Kach of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) on a priority and emergency basis.

Later, Opposition Leader Maulana Wasay told reporters outside the assembly building that the money seized from the house of Raisani was being sent abroad to fund “anti-state elements”.

NAB gets 14-day remand of finance secy

Judicial Magistrate-Quetta Mohammad Hanif remanded the Balochistan finance secretary Mushtaq Raisani in NAB custody for 14 days.

NAB prosecutor Zameer Chalgari informed the magistrate that NAB raided the suspect’s house on Friday and recovered over Rs730 million in cash, jewellery and prize bonds.

He said that the suspect had been minting money since 2013 when he was made provincial finance secretary by receiving kickbacks and embezzling funds for the public sector development programme and local government.

The suspect informed the court that he was suffering from diabetes. The magistrate directed NAB to provide him medical facilities during the remand period.

Meanwhile, the provincial government suspended the finance secretary and gave additional charge to Home Secretary Akbar Hussain Durrani.

Published in Dawn, May 8th, 2016