PESHAWAR: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Tuesday commenced a probe into Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan’s use of Khyber-Pukhtunkhwa provincial government’s helicopters.
On February 3, Imran Khan submitted a statement claiming that he had never used the KP government’s helicopter for personal or private use. He also welcomed the investigation of the matter by the bureau.
A joint investigation team (JIT), formed to probe the matter, has summoned relevant records from the provincial government.
The team, led by NAB’s KP director general (DG) Naveed Haider, includes several legal experts.
NAB chairman Javed Iqbal, on February 2, had directed the bureau’s KP DG to conduct an inquiry into Khan’s reported use of the KP chief minister’s official helicopters.
In a statement released on the occasion, NAB chief Javed Iqbal had said that Imran Khan used the K-P government helicopter for non-government visits.
He said that media reports indicated that Khan’s flights had cost the national exchequer in excess of Rs100 million. The NAB chief also observed that in the numbers quoted by the K-P government, only Rs2.1 million were accounted for. Media reports have maintained that the PTI chief has used KP government’s helicopters free of charge for a total of 74 hours to travel approximately 18,000 kilometres.
Though, the provincial government has recorded in its books a total expense of Rs 2.1 million at approximately Rs28,865 per hour for Khan’s 40 trips on the two helicopters-an Mi-171 and an Ecureuil.
Published in Daily Times, February 21st 2018.
