The Bank of Khyber Act 1991 states, “The Government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), is vested with the powers to appoint MD of BoK, for a period not less than 03 years, who shall be a senior professional Banker, having not less than twenty (20) years of experience, on such terms and conditions as the provincial government may determine.”
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s NAB in its inquiry report on alleged illegal appointment of more than 100 officials of BoK stated that the contract of BoK’s ex-MD Bilal Mustfa expired on March 5, 2013.
An advertisement with the delay of at least three months was issued seeking applications for the post of new MD on July 26, 2013.
42 candidates submitted their applications against the said post before a Selection Committee, headed by the then chief secretary of KP. 14 candidate were short-listed.
Interestingly, despite them being up-to-the-mark and qualified enough, al 14 candidates were rejected in the interview process. It was decided on December 16, 2013 that the recruitment process would be started again.
A new summary was presented to the then Chief Minister Pervaiz Khattak, in which the criteria for eligibility were visibly changed.
The age limit for the Managing Director’s post was increased and the salary package was upgraded from Rs9.5 million to Rs16.8 million per annum.
Under the summary, the then chief minister permitted hiring of a chartered firm for transparent hiring of the MD.
The services of M/s Deloitte were hired for short-listing of the candidates. The firm declared seven candidates eligible and rejected 17 others. However, this time the rejections were backed by the reasons by the firm.
NAB pointed out that Qayyum was declared unfit for the post of MD, and the reasons for rejection were also given.
But the provincial government prepared a list on Sept 11, 2014 for the appointment of the MD and Qayyum’s name was placed on number 4.
NAB’s inquiry further revealed that interview mark-sheet was not filled and interviews of 24 candidates were scheduled the same day. It further revealed that the government committee placed Qayyum’s name on top of the list.
On October 1, 2014, a summary was sent to the then chief minister Pervez Khattak and a notification for the appointment of Qayyum was issued the same day.
NAB further pointed out another violation of a rule i.e. no appointment can be made without getting clearance from State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) but Qayyum was appointed on October 1, 2014 while the Clearance Certificate by SBP was issued on January 26, 2015.
NAB’s inquiry further revealed that 572 employees were appointed in BoK between 2012 and 2016 and 102 appointments, out of them, were illegal. 43 officials were appointed without publishing an advertisement.
16 of those appointed did not have relevant experience, while 28 officials lacked academic qualification. Four persons were appointed without evaluation of their eligibility, the NAB inquiry report revealed.
It is pertinent to mention here that Qayyum was also charged with breaching Section 7 of his employment contract by publishing advertisements and making baseless allegations against the provincial finance minister.
Qayyum had accused then Finance Minister Muzaffar Said of the Jamaat-e-Islami of corruption and nepotism in a notice printed in a newspaper last year.
In 2016, the BoK had sought a stay order from Peshawar High Court (PHC) against Provincial Ehtesab Commission, which initiated investigation into the matter. The Commission, after a stay order, referred the matter to NAB KP but the BoK again succeeded in seeking stay order from the high court.
This year in February, PHC’s Justice Syed Afsar Shah vacated the stay and allowed NAB to continue its work on the matter.
The BoK has currently challenged the said interim order in Supreme Court of Pakistan.