‘Technical burglar’ : Expelled cabinet member accuses CM of embezzling Rs36b

Ziaullah Afridi urges anti-corruption watchdog to take notice of the corruption

PESHAWAR: A former member of the provincial cabinet has accused the chief minister of being involved in corrupt practices and for embezzling Rs36 billion in a year.

“This technical burglar [Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Chief Minister Parvez Khattak] embezzled Rs36billion in a single year,” alleged Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) provincial leader and former Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) cabinet member Ziaullah Afridi while addressing a news conference at the Peshawar press club on Wednesday.

Apart from embezzling funds, Afridi claimed that Khattak had covered his tracks by concealing the documents which could indict the chief minister. However, Afridi said that the auditor general had made public Khattak’s embezzlements.



“Why is the chairman of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) reluctant to arrested Khattak?” Afridi asked, adding, “I have all the evidence against Khattak who has been involved in corrupt practices.”

“The chief minister has 35-years of experience [as a politician] and did technical corruption,” he said, adding that a total of Rs134 billion from different departments had been embezzled.

PTI had terminated Afridi’s basic party membership in July 2015, after the party accused him of corruption and launched a probe against him. Afridi was subsequently arrested for misappropriation of billions of rupees through illegal mining.

Later, the provincial Ehtisab Commission — set up by the PTI — had registered two other cases against Afridi for illegal mining in Charsadda and Abbottabad.

The cases accused Afridi of being involved in illegal mining in Nowshera and for making unlawful appointments and transfers in the mines and minerals department during his tenure.

On August 28, 2017, Afridi announced that he was joining the PPP. He made the announcement at Zardari House in Islamabad following a meeting with PPP Co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 22^nd, 2018.