PESHAWAR: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has begun probe into the alleged administrative and financial irregularities in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Economic Zones Development and Management Company (KPEZDMC).

Sources told Dawn that the ‘complaint verifications’ were authorised during a meeting of the authority’s complaint scrutiny committee (CSC), which took place on Oct 19.

They said the CSC had ordered the completion of the process by Dec 25.

The sources said NAB additional director staff Zahir Shah wrote a letter to the provincial government-owned company’s chief commercial officer on Oct 31 saying the bureau was in the process of verifying matters regarding the misappropriation of public funds, misuse of authority and non-compliance with the Public Sector Companies-Governance Rules, 2013, in the KPEZDMC.

They said the bureau asked the company to provide details of its policies and procedures approved by its board of directors, memorandum of association, composition of the board of governors, details of the board’s committees along with functions, relevant rules, and profiles of board and committee members.

The sources said the bureau also directed the company to produce complete records of all notices of agendas for all meetings of board, committees, working papers and attendance sheets of all meetings along with minutes.

The KPEZDMC was also asked to produce records of tenders and biddings of infrastructure development of Jalozai industrial estate, detailed reports regarding procedures adopted and rules and regulations followed in the sale of 424 acres plots in the Hattar industrial estate along with details of plots sold, their prices, purchaser names and their CNIC number, and the amount of money received.

The NAB also directed the company to provide records pertaining to the hiring of Hassan Naziruddin Ansari and Salman Masood along with the relevant documents on salary, TA/DA, perks and privileges, and other financial matters.

The company was told to produce details of the hiring of legal advisers, instructions of the law department, consultancy services of Nespak, and minutes of the relevant board meetings.

The bureau sought all these documents by Nov 6.

When contacted, KPEZDMC chairman Ghulam Dastagir said the company’s management had provided the sought-after information to the bureau.

He claimed that the sympathisers of the officials, who were sacked by the company over inefficiency, were behind the complaints filed with the NAB and other organisations.

“They were ‘routine type’ queries and the company has submitted its reply,” he said.

The KPEZDMC chief said the company was asked lately to provide data of all its staff members to the bureau, while this time around they asked for the particulars of the two officials named in the complaints.

He added that one of the officials, whose data was sought by the NAB, had already quit the company.

Regarding the sale of plots in Hattar industrial estate, Mr Dastagir said all data of plots and other details was available online.

He said the proposed Jalozai industrial estate infrastructure development was stopped during the pre-qualification phase due to a technical mistake.

Mr Dastagir said the company was asked to stop the Jalozai estate pre-qualification process in the absence of PC-1.

He however insisted that there was no justification for seeking the details of a process, which was stopped even before its start.

Published in Dawn, November 17th, 2017