Kohistan mega scandal: NAB hauls in luxury vehicles, prime properties

PESHAWAR: In the largest financial scandal in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s history worth Rs40 billion, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has frozen a total of 36 luxury vehicles and properties of the accused.

According to sources, NAB KP has so far seized seven luxury vehicles in connection with the Kohistan mega scandal. These include a Toyota Land Cruiser, a Kia Jeep, a Toyota Fortuner, and a Honda Civic.

The NAB has also frozen 29 properties of in Islamabad’s most expensive areas allegedly owned by individuals involved in the corruption. These include commercial plazas, residential houses, flats, and markets.

A day earlier, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government formed a high-level committee, headed by the chief minister, to investigate the Kohistan mega financial scandal.

Meanwhile, the provincial assembly speaker disclosed during a special session of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) that the NAB has recovered Rs20 billion so far in the Kohistan scandal.

Following this, the KP Assembly PAC directed the provincial Director General Audit to conduct a special audit of government accounts used in the scandal across all 36 districts of the province.

Additionally, the provincial government has suspended nine officials from the Accountant General’s office and the Communication and Works (C&W) Department who were allegedly involved in the corruption case.

The PAC has instructed the Accountant General’s office to suspend within three days the officers and officials involved in the case besides taking action against more personnel from the C\&W department. The PAC also directed the finance department to suspend its implicated staff as well.

KP Director General Audit officials told the PAC that their review of Kohistan’s data has revealed significant irregularities, and that a complete audit report would be presented by December.