KP CM not given any 'clean chit' in Malam Jabba land case: NAB

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GEO NEWS
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ISLAMABAD: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Tuesday said that it had not given any 'clean chit' to Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Mehmood Khan in a case pertaining to misappropriation of land leased out in Malam Jabba for ski resorts.

"The National Accountability Bureau has not given any kind of 'clean chit' to KP Chief Minister Mehmood Khan in Malam Jabba land case," a spokesman for the anti-graft body said in a statement.

The anti-corruption watchdog termed CM Khan's statement recorded with a combined investigation team (CIT) "unsatisfactory."

The spokesman said the KP chief minister could be summoned any time in accordance with the law.

Khan appeared before the NAB officials in Peshawar on Monday in connection with the case. Speaking to media later, he had claimed that the anti-graft body had given him 'clean chit' in the case.

Earlier in January this year, it emerged that the KP government had illegally leased 275 acres of land in Malam Jabba, a tourist attraction in Swat district, which belonged to the provincial forest department.

The provincial government was to lease a mere 17-acre patch: five acres for construction of a hotel and 12 acres for a chairlift project, for 15 years. However, instead it allegedly gave 275-acre land to a private company on lease for 33 years, violating the rules and regulations.

The vast tract was reportedly leased despite objections by the KP Ehtesab Commission and the then chief minister's inspection team.

The NAB had launched an inquiry into the matter on the instructions of its chairman Justice (retd) Javed Iqbal.