PESHAWAR: Making first arrests since it became functional few months ago, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Ehtesab Commission (KPEC) on Friday held five people, father of a PTI MPA, on the charge of grabbing Rs250 million government land in Kohat.

The arrested men include chief coordinating officer of Kohat district council Noor Daraz, who is the father of Karak MPA Gul Sahab Khattak, tehsildar Mohammad Ghulam, patwari Kamran, girdawar Daud Khan and beneficiary of the alleged land grab Taj Mohammad.

According to an official of the KPEC, the suspects held under the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Ehtesab Commission Act 2014 will be produced before an ehtesab judge today (Saturday) to secure physical custody.

The initial inquiry showed that Noor Daraz, who was the tehsil municipal officer in Kohat in 2014, fraudulently transferred government land to different persons in Jarma area in connivance with other suspects.

The land grabbed measured over 150 kanals and valued at Rs250 million.

According to a news release issued by the KPEC, Noor Daraz was actively involved in the land grab crime and was the principal beneficiary along with his abettors and revenue officials, including the arrested tehsildar, girdawar and patwari.

An official of the commission told Dawn that after getting physical custody of the five suspects, investigation officers would complete investigation in the case and that a reference would be filed against them in the ehtesab court.

The commission, which became functional in December last year, has so far received 165 public complaints.

Investigation into five cases is in final stages.

The commission was set up under the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Ehtesab Commission Act (KPECA) 2014 and Lt-Gen (r) Hamid Khan, who had also served as Peshawar corps commander, was appointed its first director general on Oct 20, 2014.

Recently, the provincial government appointed two senior judicial officers, Hayat Ali Shah and Subhan Sher Khan, the judges of ehtesab court.

Also, former district and sessions judge Yahya Zahid Gillani was appointed the prosecutor general of the commission.

Principal staff officer of the commission Major (r) Sardar Ahsan Alam told Dawn that the arrest of Noor Daraz showed that the commission would function without extending favour to any one whether he belonged to ruling parties or the opposition. He said arrests were also on the cards in other corruption cases.

Lately, the provincial assembly amended the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Ehtesab Commission Act 2014 to empower the commission to deal with cases of corruption and corrupt practices since Jan 2004.

Published in Dawn, April 18th, 2015

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