Alleged mismanagement: Court orders for record of ZTBL expenses

IHC unimpressed by meetings in luxury hotels in a petition filed by SVP of bank.

ISLAMABAD:

Monday brought another setback for two former chiefs of Zarai Taraqiati Bank Limited (ZTBL), as the Islamabad High Court (IHC) sought details of the expenditure incurred on meetings conducted in luxury hotels.

The court was hearing a petition filed by ZTBL Senior Vice President (SVP) Sohail Mansoor Agha, in which the appointment of former bank president Roohi Khan had been challenged.

Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui directed ZTBL President Ihsanul Haq to submit a complete record of expenditure on official meetings during his tenure and that of his predecessors on June 2.

Muhammad Zakra Ashraf was president of ZTBL from June 2008 to September 2011, while Roohi Khan held the post from 2011 to 2012.

During the course of hearing on Monday, Barrister Umar Afzal maintained on behalf of the petitioner that ZTBL officials delay disbursement of pensions to retired officers.



He claimed that the board of directors took decisions on their own. “This is one of the biggest institutions in the country and it is being governed poorly.”

When Justice Siddiqui asked a bank representative about the issue, he claimed that ZTBL did not have money to pay pensions. The judge expressed concern and asked, “Is there any reason for conducting official meeting in five star hotels despite the availability of conference rooms in the office?”

The bank’s lawyer, Advocate Azam Khan failed to convince the bench the expenditure was justified.

Incidentally, on March 12, 2012, the IHC had restrained Khan from running day-to-day affairs of the bank. She later left the ZTBL and the government appointed Haq. The appointment of Zaka Ashraf had previously been challenged in the Lahore High Court Rawalpindi bench in 2010.

Later, his case was transferred to the IHC, but he ended up quitting the job after being appointed chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board by the President Zardari.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 28^th, 2013.