PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has tabled the Bank Khyber Amendment Bill in the provincial assembly, aims at delegating powers to the board of directors for appointment of the Managing Director of the bank.
According to the bank sources, the government along with the private shareholders is amending the act to handover management affairs to 25% fed shareholders. With the amendments proposed by the provincial government, the power of the MD Appointment will shift from the provincial government to the board, which will further strengthen hold of the private shareholder on the bank.
According to bank sources, with the approval of the board of new managing director, the number of bank members of the private shareholder will increase. With these amendments, the vote of the MD of the bank will be inclined towards private shareholder. The bank sources said that the post of foreign member in the BoK board has been vacant since 2003.
When contacted, BoK Managing Director Muhammad Ali Gul Faraz said that the amendments to the BoK Act are the discretion of the Provincial Government and the Finance Department. He said the existing amendments were proposed by the Provincial Government and the Finance Department. However, Finance Minister Taimur Khan Jhagra was not available for comments.
Sardar Hussain Babak, provincial parliamentary leader of Awami National Party, said that the PTI government is destroying the only financial institution of the province. He said, “Assets of the bank are being distributed to favorites by the PTI government.”
Babak said that for the past nine years, the ruling party, despite having more shares of Bank of Khyber, is constantly busy rewarding the people on political and personal grounds through amendments in the Bank Act. He said that due to the personal interest of the finance minister, the firm was changed and the services of another organization were obtained for the appointment of the favorite MD with a monthly salary of Rs4.5 million along with other resources.
The ANP leader said that despite the fact that most of the assets of Bank of Khyber belong to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, it is being transferred to Islamabad with the connivance of the bank administration and the provincial finance minister. “Despite having a big building for the bank head office in Peshawar, a space has been acquired on rent worth millions of rupees in Gulberg Green, Islamabad, in which the bank’s IT system has already been shifted and now the bank will recruit 160 employees for it,” the ANP leader said.
