Ehtesab commission files reference against former PML-N lawmaker

Court orders Sardar Mushtaq Khan, 13 others to appear on January 10

PESHAWAR: In a surprising move, the provincial accountability body has filed a corruption reference against a former parliamentarian from the opposition Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz.

The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Ehtesab Commission (KPEC) on Wednesday believes that former Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) MNA Sardar Mushtaq Khan and 13 others were allegedly involved in a multi-million rupee land scam in Haripur.

“With the [connivance of] officials of the land revenue department, Sardar Mushtaq, former Member National Assembly have incurred a loss of Rs140 million to the national exchequer,”  the KPEC’s Special prosecutor Lajbar Khan Saleem told an accountability judge.

He further told the court that the provincial accountability body has already collected evidence of Mushtaq’s involvement in the matter and requested the court to issue arrest warrants for the accused.

Mushtaq was also accused of misusing his authority from 2008 to 2013 when he served as an MNA. Moreover, he was accused of selling land in his native village in Kot Najeebullah to the K-P Workers Welfare Board for the building of a labour colony. However, the land was sold at higher rates and allegedly caused the national exchequer a loss of Rs140 million.

The Ehtisab/accountability Court, though, decided to issue summons to Mushtaq and the other accused to appear before the court on January 10.

Mushtaq is a PML-N leader from Haripur. In 2010, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) had launched an inquiry against him, however, the case was later brushed aside after Mushtaq joined the Pakistan Peoples Party. But in 2015, he rejoined the PML-N.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 4^th, 2018.