PESHAWAR: Awami National Party Khyber Pakhtunkhwa spokesperson Arsalan Khan Nazim has expressed serious concern over reports that Bank of Khyber allegedly issued Rs 5.5 billion in loans to five petrol pumps in Punjab without fulfilling legal and regulatory requirements.
In a statement issued here on Friday, Nazim alleged that the province’s only state-owned bank has been turned into “a laboratory for personal interests, nepotism, and favoring cronies.”
“After destroying every sector of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and benefiting their blue-eyed people, the rulers have now started plundering the province’s only government bank,”he said.
Nazim said that according to published reports, financial facility of Rs 5.5 billion was provided on the guarantee of Go Petroleum. However, he claimed that neither was the security interest registered with SECP, nor was a legal lien marked on the accounts offered as collateral.
“If these reports are true, this is not just administrative negligence. It is deliberately putting the people’s money at risk,”he added.
He further cited reports of another alleged Rs 1 billion loan to TPL, a company whose application was earlier rejected for not meeting the bank’s criteria.
“Under whose orders and for whose benefit was the loan later approved? Who extended the repayment period? Why has no action been taken against those responsible despite non-payment?” Nazim asked.
The ANP leader questioned whether Bank of Khyber belongs to the people of KP or to the rulers and their business groups.
”Who approved Rs 5.5 billion for five petrol pumps in Punjab? Why has no action been taken against the officers who released funds without legal guarantees? Why are the bank’s Board of Directors, management and the provincial government silent?” he said.
Nazim also criticized the silence of NAB, FIA, State Bank, SECP and other investigative agencies.
” Have investigative institutions been left only to target political opponents? When billions of rupees of KP people are at risk, what further evidence does NAB need to act?”
He demanded an independent, transparent and high-level inquiry into all controversial financial facilities of Bank of Khyber, particularly the Rs 5.5 billion and Rs 1 billion loans.
” The names of officers who approved the loans, board members, political figures and potential beneficiaries should be made public. Those responsible should be removed from office until the investigation is complete,” he said.
Nazim added that the provincial government and bank management cannot hide behind denial statements. _“They must place all relevant documents, credit committee recommendations, board approvals, guarantees, liens, securities and recovery details before the public.”
” Bank of Khyber is not the personal property of any government, minister, officer or business group. It belongs to the people of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. ANP will not remain silent on the looting of public money and will raise this issue on every political, parliamentary, legal and public forum,” he concluded.
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