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Today's Paper | May 03, 2024

Updated 08 Aug, 2017 02:07pm

Gulalai's former secretary moves NAB, accuses her of embezzlement

Noor Zaman, the former secretary of MNA Ayesha Gulalai, moved the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Tuesday against the former Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) leader over alleged corruption in development projects.

The petition filed with NAB in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, by Zaman and two members of the PTI, alleges that Gulalai and her father, Shams-ul-Qayyum, have been involved in embezzlement and corruption in various development schemes.

Documented evidence of the alleged corruption is attached with the petition which requests authorities to investigate Gulalai and her father.

Saleem Nawaz Khan, the district president of the PTI, and Engineer Arif Marwat are the two other petitioners in the application that seeks strict action against Gulalai.

While addressing a press conference a day earlier, Zaman had alleged that Gulalai and Qayyum had gotten kickbacks in development projects.

He had further claimed that the MNA was involved in corruption and, as her personal secretary, he knew many things in that regard.

He had pointed out that the MNA had received Rs7.2million in a road construction project from Bannu link road to Sada Khel Road. He said he himself had provided her Rs4.7million.

Zaman had also accused Gulalai of embezzling Rs1.2 million from the funds meant to build a road from Lakki Marwat to Tari Khel, while Rs600,000 for a project to install solar-powered tube-well were also misused, calling on Gulalai to apologise to the nation and return the "looted money" to the exchequer.

Zaman had said that he would also move the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Ehtesab Commission against his former boss. However, no such development has been reported as yet.

Gulalai dominated headlines in the past week after she accused PTI Chairman Imran Khan of "harassment".

Gulalai had claimed that Imran had sent her inappropriate and explicit text messages, the first of which, she said, she received in 2013.

Earlier on Tuesday, PTI's chief whip in the National Assembly, Shireen Mazari, categorically rejected an ethics committee approved by National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq to look into allegations of harassment as it would comprise of parliamentarians, including PTI's political opponents.

"Political opponents cannot be accusers, judge and jury," reads the letter, a copy of which is available with Dawn.com.

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