Khattak claims to reject billions in kickbacks

Says if he was not here, someone else would have pocketed the money

PESHAWAR: Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Pervez Khattak on Thursday claimed that he had rejected kickbacks worth billions of rupees that were offered to him under various agreements in his four-year tenure.

“I was offered billions which I rejected. If I was not here the money would have gone in someone else’s pocket,” he claimed in his speech to the K-P assembly as he gave an overview of his four years in office.

He told the assembly that he had made agreements in which the provincial government will not spend a single penny and instead would get a share in profit. He cited the example of the MoU with Frontier Works Organisation (FWO), in which the army’s construction wing would invest $11 billion in the province and would give 5 to 10 per cent of its share in its profit to the K-P government. He added that he has signed MoUs with Chinese companies of similar mode.



Khattak started his lengthy speech by briefing the lawmakers on the steps taken by his government to introduce reforms in the system, saying that prior to his government no one needed to change and bring reforms in the system.

“In first two years we passed legislations. We made independent boards, companies and autonomous authorities in institutions to remove hurdles. We have tried to put every entity on the right track and the fruits of our efforts will be reaped in the near future,” he said.

While talking about reforms in the education sector, Khattak said: “His government completely banned teachers' transfers and recruited 45,000 teachers to cover the shortage along with spending billions on missing facilities in schools.”



Khattak stated that they have started basic education of English in schools to make the poor children able to compete with rich children. “We are bringing a law that only those teachers would be promoted who give best results,” he claimed.

In health, he said that doctors were now ready to stay in hospitals. Earlier senior doctors were, on an average, giving one hour duty but his government had forced them to perform. Khattak added that they sacked 800 doctors who were doing double jobs.

Khattak said that they have given Rs80 billion to local governments which is unprecedented in the province’s history. On tourism, he said his government has improved Nathia Gali’s infrastructure and now they are working to develop Kalam, Chitral and Naran as tourist attractions.



Regarding PTI’s flagship project, the billion tree tsunami afforestation, he invited the opposition to make visits to the areas where plantations have been carried out and see the results.

Regarding CPEC, the CM acknowledged the support of the opposition to win the case for the western route. He said they are now working on infrastructure for CPEC to attract investors.

Earlier, the house approved 10 demands for grants for various departments for the on-going fiscal year 2016-17, while the opposition members took back all their cut motions in favour of the ministers.

Meanwhile, Awami National Party’s Sardar Hussain Babak grilled the government for giving a Rs5 billion loan to the contractor of Swat Expressway.



“The K-P government should have taken shares in the project for the money which it is spending in the project,” he said and asked the government to explain its position. “You have given the Swat Expressway revenue to the contractor for 30-years. Why did the provincial government not build it in partnership with the contractor?” he questioned.

The chief minister told the house in response to Babak’s question that the FWO — the contractor — was given a loan to make the project feasible.

“Even the banks give loans for feasibility of the project and we thought it better to give a loan to make the project feasible,” he said.