PESHAWAR: The National Accountability Bureau on Thursday arrested 10 people, including former PPP provincial minister Nawabzada Mehmood Zeb, over the illegal allotment of government reservoirs of phosphate to a schoolteacher and thus, causing Rs360 million loss to the kitty.

The NAB Khyber Pakhtunkhwa alleges that Mahmood Zeb, who was a leader of PPP and was provincial minister for technical education, industries and mineral department in the previous provincial government, in connivance with the other nine suspects had misused his authority in illegal allotment of 500 acres of proven deposit of phosphate to a female school teacher, Rukhsana Javed, who illegally excavated phosphate in collaboration with the first cousin of the minister Ehtishamul Mulk and jointly caused a loss of Rs360 million to the national exchequer.

The other nine arrested suspects are the then secretary technical education and minerals, Shah Wali Khan; the then additional secretary of the department, Asamtullah Khan Ghandapur, presently serving as commissioner Bannu division; a section officer, Farhad Ali; a deputy director of the department, Khan Badshah; a geologist at the directorate of mines and minerals, Nauroze Khan; a senior inspector of mines presently serving as commissioner mines, Ziarat Khan; the then director licensing of minerals department, Shakirullah; an assistant director (litigation) of mineral department, Pervaiz Khan; and an assistant director, Ehtishamul Mulk.

The NAB said the inquiry revealed that the Sarhad Development Authority held 1200 acres of phosphate reservoirs under the 1985-2005 mining lease.

NAB charges them with being involved in illegal allotment of phosphate reservoirs

The area was surrendered in 2005 and was required to be put through open auction in line with the Mining Concession Rules (MCR) 2005.

A woman schoolteacher, Rukhsana Javed, applied for prospecting licence of the land in 2004. However, the application was rejected prompting the woman to go into litigation against the department.

The NAB alleges that in 2008, the then minister, Nawabzada Mehmood Zeb, in connivance with other suspects went beyond lawful limits for the unlawful allotment of 500 acres of the area to Rukhsana Javed through prospecting licence.

“The minister also issued illegal directives to the relevant officials to process that application despite its rejection by his department as evident from the record.”

According to the NAB, the department later made a U-turn and accepted the schoolteacher’s offer to settle the matter and formed an illegal settlement committee for the purpose on the then secretary’s orders.

“The committee interestingly recommended 500 acres from the above stated 1200 acres for prospecting license to the schoolteacher in exchange for withdrawal of court cases.”

The NAB alleged that in contravention of the rules of business, minister Mehmood Zeb chaired a meeting on Jan 1, 2009, during which the illegal recommendations of the said committee were approved.

It added that vested interests of the minister was evident from the fact that even before the approval, the said lease agreement was signed between Rukhsana (the lessee) and Ehtishamul Mulk, front man and cousin of the minister.

Published in Dawn, July 10th, 2015

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