Imran Khan lied on Bank of Khyber issue, claims estranged PTI MPA

Says PTI chief protecting K-P CM, JI chief Sirajul Haq also illegally appointed workers while he was finance minister

PESHAWAR: Disgruntled Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf lawmaker Ziaullah Afridi claimed on Tuesday that party chief Imran Khan had lied to the public in his Liaquat Bagh rally speech about the issue of illegal appointments in the Bank of Khyber.

He added that the PTI chief was trying to protect Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) CM Pervaiz Khattak who was involved in illegal hiring at the bank.

He maintained that Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) chief Sirajul Haq also illegally appointed bank employees when he was the K-P finance minister.



Khan had addressed a rally in Liaquat Bagh, Rawalpindi on August 13.

“PTI Chairman Imran Khan lied to the people at his Liaquat Bagh rally. I challenge him and Sirajul Haq to a debate on the issue," Afridi, former K-P mines and minerals development minister, told reporters at a press conference in Peshawar.

“The managing director of the bank was appointed illegally when the JI chief was the K-P finance minister. CM Pervaiz Khattak is also involved in such appointments," he claimed.

Afridi announced that he would stage a sit-in outside the K-P Ehtesab Commission and the National Accountability Bureau office against illegal appointments and corruption in the province.

“If the Bank of Khyber issue goes to the Supreme Court, then Sirajul Haq will turn out to be much worse than Nawaz Sharif in terms of Articles 62 and 63 [the clause that requires a parliamentarian to be honest and truthful] ,” he maintained.



"The appointment of the Bank’s MD is a major scam but it has not been impartially investigated."

The MPA said the Bank of Khyber, a very profitable institution of the province, was going bankrupt and the CM, the PTI chief, his friend Rashid Ali Khan and MD Shamsul Qayyum were responsible for it.

"The JI is making a bargain in the bank scandal, but it will become a death trap for it," he remarked.

Afridi added that he would take the case to the court with all evidence in hand.

“The bank's assets have been sold to Imran Khan’s close aide Rashid Ali Khan, who played an important role in the PTI chief's money trail."

The estranged PTI lawmaker said billions of rupees were being given in loans to people in other provinces through the Bank of Khyber and the parliamentary committee report on the scandal was like ridiculing the public.



The bank scandal had surfaced in April last year, when The Express Tribune published a story in which K-P Finance Minister Muzafar Said said he was unaware of the voluntary separation scheme of the bank and opposed the move of the bank.

The next day after the story was published, the bank management published an advertisement against Said and levelled allegations of illegal appointments, use of bank’s money in his political rallies and intrusion in the bank matter. The JI, which is a coalition partner of the PTI in the K-P government, refuted the allegations.