Daily Times

PESHAWAR: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) disposed of the Malam Jabba scandal without taking any further action after a three-and-a-half-year investigation.

The NAB wants the case referred to the KP chief secretary for an investigation into contract awarding irregularities.

On January 7, 2018, the Malam Jabba scandal broke. On January 9, 2018, the NAB chairperson ordered an investigation after calling it a classic case of corruption and abuse of power.

According to the publication, questions have been raised about the NAB’s performance and why the case was kept open for three and a half years despite the fact that no evidence had been found.

A senior official committee submitted a six-page report in 2020, on orders of the Peshawar High Court, claiming that 270 acres of land in Malam Jabba belonged to the tourism department and that its entry into the revenue record was incorrect.

General (retired) Hamid Khan, the former head of the Ehtesab Commission, had raised serious objections in his letter IW/EC/MalamJabba/ 01 on April 15, 2015, claiming that the bidding process was suspicious.

The Samson Company had no experience in the hotel industry and had submitted the amount late.

The lease contract was given to a favourite company, according to the letter. In another letter dated February 26, 2016, the head of the CM Inspection Team expressed similar suspicions.

However, nothing happened.

The Ehtesab Commission was no longer needed, and the report of the CM Inspection Team was discarded.

Former CM Pervez Khattak decided to contact the Australian government or the PAF for the Malam Jabba project in two meetings on October 11 and December 19, 2013, according to documents, but the tourism department did not contact them.

According to the documents, no feasibility, technical, financial, or pre-qualification criteria were established for the project.