PESHAWAR: The members of opposition benches in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly on Thursday questioned the silence of Chief Minister Ali Amin Khan Gandapur over irregularities in an official account of the provincial government and termed it ‘institutional failure’.

They said that Rs36 billion was withdrawn from the provincial government’s account G-10113 only in Kohistan district. However, they said the issue was not limited to a single district. They added that the people, who briefed Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on the alleged irregularities, were themselves involved in the financial scam.

The issue surfaced after National Accountability Bureau (NAB) launched investigation into alleged irregularities of Rs36 billion in the provincial government’s account. The account is meant for retention money by contractors for schemes of four departments including communication and works, local government, irrigation and public health engineering departments.

Also, the PAC of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly took notice of the issue and held two meetings. In its last meeting held on Wednesday, PAC ordered the auditor general office to conduct special audit of the provincial government’s account for all 36 districts of the province.

Dr Ibad says Rs36bn withdrawn from govt’s account only in Kohistan district

On Thursday, opposition members in provincial assembly said that not even a single statement was issued by Chief Minister Ali Amin Khan Gandapur, the chief executive of the province, over the issue.

“Those, who are briefing PAC members, are themselves involved in the scam. Nobody is ready to claim responsibility,” the PML-N lawmaker and leader of opposition in the provincial assembly, Dr Ibadullah told journalists during a press conference here. He was accompanied by JUI-F’s Sajjadullah and Ijaz Mohammad.

Dr Ibadullah claimed that Rs40 billion was embezzled from one account and that too in Kohistan district. He said that similar accounts were being probed in other districts by National Accountability Bureau (NAB). He added similar irregularities were likely to surface in other districts as well.

“Why is the chief executive silent? Was this amount used on several marches [referring to PTI] towards Islamabad, for May 9 riots or the [campaign] against incumbent head of the armed forces,” the opposition leader questioned. He added that the departments were not ready to accept failure as they were blaming one another for the scam.

Dr Ibadullah lauded NAB for carrying out investigation into the province’s largest financial scam. He said that NAB recovered Rs21 billion within days. He claimed that several residential and commercial properties, gold and luxury cars were confiscated by NAB in Islamabad, Rawalpindi and other parts of the country. He added Rs2 billion was recovered from the accounts of a sweeper.

He claimed that irregularities worth Rs40 billion were found in only one account of provincial government.

The opposition leader said that in retention amount, money was deposited by contractors and the amount was supposed to be given back to contractors. “When we have a total Rs70 billion developmental budget for the entire province, where will this amount be paid from,” he questioned.

Dr Ibadullah said that media highlighted Panama scandal, which was later proved to be false but it never covered the biggest financial scam in history of the province. The opposition accused that funds were released for projects once ’15 per cent’ [bribe] was received. “Ministries were sold and I don’t talk without evidence,” he said. He added that over 50 per cent of the amount was embezzled during the current financial year.

MPA Sajjadullah said that Kohistan was a backward district. He said that NAB’s credibility could be challenged in the past but it did a great job in recovering more than 50 per cent of the looted amount. He said that the issue was repeatedly raised by then assistant commissioner and letters were written but nobody took its notice.

Published in Dawn, May 16th, 2025