No conviction, no recovery by Rs 600 million KPK Ehtesab Commission
 

https://www.thenews.com.pk/assets/up...0234_print.jpg ISLAMABAD: More than Rs600 million have been spent by the PTI government from the public kitty on the KPK Ehtesab Commission in the name of curbing corruption ever since its creation in 2014 but neither any corrupt person has been convicted nor even a single penny has been recovered so far.

Repeated amendments in the Ehtesab law, extreme interference from the provincial executive and controversial appointments in the body have made the KPK EC a toothless and tamed body, which has not only lost its independence but could not proceed against any corrupt person.

This situation is really frustrating for the top bosses of the EC as no less than the Chief Ehtesab Commissioner Hamid Farooq Durrani and some of other commissioners told The News that they are in a state of extreme despondency and frustration because of the non-functioning of the commission.

According to these commissioners, the acting DG of the commission is a close relative of a provincial minister, who is actually running the show. The CEC and four commissioners have been deprived of their authority to oversee the commission, which does not even bother to respond to queries of the commissioners, including the CEC.

The CEC, Hamid Durrani, when contacted, told The News that repeated amendments in the Ethesab law have made the commission powerless. He said that ever since the departure of the last DG Lt Gen (retd) Hamid, who had resigned in Feb 2016, the commission is run by an acting DG as every effort made by the commission to appoint a regular DG has been frustrated through repeated amendments in the law.

He lamented that now the Administrative Committee of the Peshawar High Court has been empowered to select the DG for the Ehtesab Commission. The High Court, which has its own enormous workload, has been tasked with the work which falls in the executive’s domain, he said. To continue with the acting DG, who has already completed his contract months ago, the CEC said, the government has made person-specific amendments in the law.

“No one is interested in accountability,” he said, adding that except for PTI chief Imran Khan, no one is keen to check corruption. However, another source said that the CEC alongwith four commissioners visited Banigala a few months ago to discuss how the EC had been ruined but the PTI chief did not meet them.

The CEC said that the former DG commission had made controversial appointments in the commission in violation of merit, which led to the induction of non-professionals in the body. He lamented that in May this year, the commission sought the law department’s view on the validity of the continuation of the existing acting DG but despite repeated reminders and lapse of months, the provincial government has not yet responded.

Sarwat Jahan, Commissioner Ehtesab Commission, when contacted, told The News that contrary to what is propagated, the provincial accountability body has been rendered powerless. She said that the CEC and the commissioners have been deprived of their authority to oversee the commission.

She said that the CEC’s role has been given to the PHC, which is a violation of Article 175 of the Constitution.Another Commissioner EC Col (retd) Wajid Jan Abbasi, when approached, told this correspondent that after repeated amendments, which have deprived them of their responsibility to oversee the commission, there is hardly any need of continuing with the EC. “Why do you now need this institution?” he said, adding that public money is being wasted on the KPEC.

Making tall claims about setting a new precedent of independent accountability in Pakistan, the PTI had established the Ehtesab Commission through an Act of KP Provincial Assembly in 2014. It was claimed that the institution would be an independent and autonomous body for the purpose to combat corruption and to restore public trust in the government. However, it ended up in an extreme disappointment not only for outsiders but for the commission’s own top bosses.

The commission is not having a regular DG for the last two years. A source claimed that although the law department’s view has not been shared with the EC, the department has conveyed to the Establishment Department that the present acting DG’s appointment is illegal. Additionally, there are commission’s officials who are allegedly holding fake degrees as well as experience certificates.

Recently, the Chief Ehtesab Commissioner and Ehtesab Commissioners had expressed deep concerns over the recent amendments, made by the PTI government in the Ehtesab Commission Act, and conveyed their reservations to the chief minister KP through a letter in this regard.

The Chief Ehtesab Commissioner, in his two-page letter to the chief minister KP, had expressed deep concerns over the amendments in the KP Ehtesab Commission Act and urged withdrawal of the new amendments in the interest of people. However, the commissioners did not get any response from the KP’s chief minister.

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