ISLAMABAD: Under its renewed pledge to eradicate corruption and catch bigwigs, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Friday took its first action against Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan and Khyber Pakhtun­khwa Chief Minister Pervez Khattak for allegedly misusing official helicopters for private visits.

The NAB move has surprised many as before this the bureau was taking action against leaders of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Pakis­tan Peoples Party (PPP) and bureaucrats.

The PTI rejected the allegation and urged NAB to investigate misuse of official choppers by other provinces and political parties.

PML-N leaders and some media reports have also alleged that Imran Khan has misused official helicopters of the KP government for private visits, causing millions of rupees of losses to the national exchequer.

NAB chairman retired Justice Javed Iqbal directed the bureau’s KP director general to conduct an inquiry against CM Khattak and Imran Khan over 74-hour unofficial use of two government helicopters — MI-17 and Ecureuil — by misusing authority. He also sought a report in this regard, NAB’s spokesman told reporters after a meeting of the bureau.

Since the appointment of Justice Iqbal as NAB chief, the bureau has become more active and important decisions are being taken on a daily basis regarding corruption committed by bigwigs.

According to reports, Imran Khan has used MI-17 helicopter for 22 hours and Ecureuil for 52 hours. The per hour cost of flying stood at Rs28,000. The 74-hour flying cost is said to be Rs2.1072 million.

NAB received reports that had Mr Khan chartered an MI-17 helicopter from a private firm, he would have to pay between Rs1m and Rs1.2m per hour and that for Ecurreuil from Rs500,000 to Rs600,000.

According to the principal adviser to the KP chief minister, one hour expenditure on technical training and aviation of an official helicopter is between Rs150,000 and Rs200,000.

If the PTI chairman pays Rs150,000 per hour for using the official helicopter, the total payable amount comes to Rs111m, but the amount mentioned in the official documents suggest that he paid only Rs2.1072m, NAB observes.

It has come to the knowledge of NAB that Mr Khan used MI-17 for his private visits to Kohat, Peshawar, Mardan, Battagram, Dir and Kamrat from Banigala (Islamabad). Similarly, he used Ecureuil for his private visits to Peshawar, Kohat, Abbottabad, Haripur, Chitral, Swat and Nowshera from Banigala.

Justice Iqbal directed the KP NAB director general to inquire whether the chief minister has legal powers to give sensitive assets like helicopters for private use to anybody and on what pretext Imran Khan had been allowed to use the official helicopters. Had official choppers been given to other persons as well for private use, he asked.

Justice Iqbal also asked the KP NAB to ascertain if the chief minister had misused his authority. He was of the view that the basic aim of NAB’s inquiry was to prevent misuse of official assets (helicopters).

Meanwhile, Imran Khan chaired a party meeting at his Banigala residence and claimed that he had not used official helicopters of the PTI-led KP government for personal use.

According to the PTI spokesman, the party welcomed the notice taken by NAB and demanded that the bureau also probe the misuse of official helicopters by other provincial governments and politicians. The amount of usage of official helicopters by the KP governor was quite higher than that of Mr Khan, the spokesman claimed.

He said the party had decided to give a comprehensive reply to the NAB action and allegation of misuse of official choppers, adding that Mr Khan had never used official helicopters for personal reasons even for a minute.

Published in Dawn, February 3rd, 2018