NAB says not given ‘clean chit' to CM KP in Malam Jabba land case

ISLAMABAD: National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has said it has not given a ‘clean chit’ to Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Mahmood Khan in Malam Jabba land leasing case, ARY News reported on Tuesday.

“NAB team had termed Mahmood Khan’s statement as ‘unsatisfactory’, and has not given a ‘clean chit’ to him in a probe related to leasing of Malam Jabba’s land,” the NAB’s spokesperson said in his statement here today.

The spokesperson of the anti-watch dog body further added that CM KP can be summoned again anytime for the probe into scandal.

It may be recalled that, Mahmood Khan, yesterday, had showed up before the NAB Peshawar chapter in connection with a probe into allotment of land in Malam Jabba.

Speaking to media after his appearance, the chief minister had claimed the Bureau had given him ‘clean chit’ in the case, adding that he was not given any questionnaire with regard to the probe.

The NAB had summoned the CM over his alleged involvement in the scam as he was the then KP minister for sports when the land was leased.

The forest department’s protected land was leased out to a private company for 33 years allegedly in violation of rules and regulations for the construction of a chairlift and skiing resort.

On April 15, 2015, former chairman of the Ehtesab Commission, General (retd) Hamid Khan, expressed his serious reservations over the agreement and asked the government to review it. The CM Inspection Team had also termed the agreement illegal and launched an investigation into it.