- Ex-minister says Khattak, Assad influencing Ehtesab Commission
Former Khyber Pakhtunkhwa minister Ziaullah Afridi on Sunday asked Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan to remove Assad Qaisar from his post as the speaker of the provincial assembly over corruption charges.
Addressing a press conference here at the Peshawar Press Club, Afridi said that a person accused of corruption could not hold such an important office. Assad Qaisar should have quit the post on his own on moral grounds also, he said. He recalled that when such allegations were leveled against him by the Ehtesab Commission, his even party membership was terminated.
He said that Imran Khan should now take such action against Assad Qaisar also. He said that the Ehtesab Commission was playing the role of a silent spectator on corruption charges against the speaker and Chief Minister Pervez Khattak. Both Assad Qaisar and Pervez Khattak were allegedly influencing the commission to give them a clean chit, he added.
He accused the speaker of employing a large number of his relatives on different posts in the assembly. The state of affairs in assembly were not in order as evident from the fact that even its elevator was out of order and no steps were taken to get it repaired, he added. Afridi said that the Ehtisab Commission was only having accountability of the helpless people while sparing the big fish.
On Saturday, Speaker Assad Qaiser said a baseless propaganda has been initiated against him of buying 35-kanal house in Bani Gala – a residential area located in the federal capital at the eastern bank of Rawal Lake. In case of proving just one allegation, he would quit politics, he said.
He said that if any one pointed out and proved his alleged 35-kanal house in his name at Bani Gala, he would transfer its title to that person. “I had declared all my assets in my nomination papers with the election commission in 2013,” he had said. Chief Minister Pervez Khattak also said that he supported Asad Qaiser and his stance.
Allegations of corruption and misuse of authority by the provincial speaker were brought up on Friday, following which investigators had reportedly asked the NAB chairman for permission to initiate an investigation. NAB had alleged that Assad Qaiser owned a mansion in Bani Gala worth Rs350 million. The bureau also accused him of taking a cut from construction projects and hiring illegally in government departments.
In his letter written to NAB chief, a NAB director has stated that Assad Qaisar shared a 14-marla house with his four brothers, but now he owns a five-kanal bungalow worth Rs50 million.
The letter also read that the speaker has had a house worth Rs350 million built on 35 kanals of land in Bani Gala. The official stated that there have been allegations against Assad Qaisar of receiving 30 percent kickbacks in different development projects and that there is a clear difference between the speaker’s assets and his sources of income.