NAB decides to take action against ministers, bureaucrats in Malam Jabba case

ISLAMABAD (92 News) – Despite the issuance of NAB Amendment Ordinance, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has decided to take action against the ministers and bureaucrats in the Malam Jabba case. The matter has been sent to the NAB executive board. The reference is likely to be approved in the next meeting of the executive board. On Tuesday, the decision to take the action was made after reviewing the case. Defence Minister Pervez Khattak, former additional chief secretary (Planning and Development) Khalid Pervez, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Tourism Corporation managing director Mushtaq Khan and some other officials are facing the inquiry in the case. According to the NAB, former PTI-led KP government had illegally leased 275 acres of land in Malam Jabba, a tourist resort in Swat district, which belonged to the provincial Forest Department. The protected forest could not be used for any other purpose under the KP Forest Ordinance 2002. The NAB claimed that initially, the government had to lease out 17 acres of land for the purpose of construction of a hotel and a chairlift project for 15 years but later, it allegedly leased out 275 acres land to a private company for 33 years. However, the KP government claimed that a dispute was going on between the forest and tourism departments over the ownership of that land. It added that the former ruler of Swat State had gifted that land to the government in 1969 for tourism purpose and that the land belonged to Tourism Department. The government claimed that in its advertisement issued in March 2014, it had asked the interested parties to express interest in the tourism development and the winning party would be given land measuring 275 acres (five acres for hotel and 270 acres for ski/chairlift) initially for 33 years on lease extendable for 20 years.