PESHAWAR: Former Khyber Pakhtunkhwa finance and health minister and PTI leader Taimur Saleem Jhagra has rejected a questionnaire, shared by the ruling party`s internal accountability committee with him, as `biased, mala fide, contradictory and lacking in evidence.

The committee, initially called the good governance committee, was formed earlier in August last year, after former minister Shakeel Ahmad alleged corruption in the ranks of the provincial government.

Mr Jhagra, who lost his provincial assembly bid in the Feb 8, 2024 elections and doesn`t hold any government office, has also gone public with his response to the committee`s questionnaire and shared it on social media.

In his 35-page reply to the questionnaire, he noted that the issue started when PTI founder Imran Khan, as the prime minister, directed the chief minister to induct him into the provincial cabinet.

`After the PM`s directions, the CM suggested that this be subject to clear-ance from an internal accountability committee. I understand that this was based on concerns of allegations of corruption, raised repeatedly by the CM, although never admitted to me. I feel exceptionally disappointed about this, because I stand by my track record, and the levels of integrity that I have tried to maintain,` he said.

The former minister said that he received a questionnaire to assess `past performance`, and to `make recommendations for further usefulness for any appointment,` from Brigadier Musaddiq Abbasi on March 5.

He also said that it was interesting that before this engagement was forced by Imran Khan`s directions, as a senior party member, despite the whispering campaign, no one in government ever bothered to take his perspective on any ofthose issues pertainingto either corruption or performance.

`It is similarly interesting that no one, particularly the accountability adviser, has asked me to share my financial record or asset details, which itself would be enough to discredit most of these charges in a dignified manner,` he said.

Mr Jhagra also took a pot shot at the internal accountability committee, saying that he believed anyone taking a glance at the questionnaire will be able to see the bias, mala fide, contradictions, conjecture and lack of evidence visible inits contents.

`The questionnaire states that itintends to assess past performance, but it only consists of 24 questions, all negatively framed, as if a charge sheet to deliberately make the case through a volume of fake charges, that there are question marks on me,` he noted.

Regarding the committee`s queries, the former minister said that the decision on the use of pension funds was taken by cabinet and by the assembly; the hiring of the managing director of the Bank of Khyber was taken by the Bank of Khyber`s board, as any loans given by the bank; outsourcing models are developed and approved by the Health Foundation and not by him; development projects were approved by the PDWP, which didn`t have any minister.

He also noted that procurement and logistics issues, in which the minister cannot and must not have a role, were also placed at his feet; for example, alleged irregularities in Covid and other procurements, or even the nontransportation of contraceptives donated by the UN, that he could have no clue of.

`The constant use of hearsay is evident throughout the document to make false charges, which is majorly hilarious given that it must be assumed that robust investigations have taken place over the last two years. For example, `talk of the town` is the evidence presented for commissions in the finance department; `reportedly` I amcharged with hiring `few relatives` the appointment of Dr Shaukat as DG Health (which I opposed, and which was done bypassing my office) `allegedly` involved financial compensation,` he said.

Mr Jhagra also said that several charges show a basic lack of understanding of government, unless this has been done deliberately to assign blame to him; for example, that the finance planning on the long-term throw-forward was poor.

`It is hard to believe that the committee, consisting of one current and one former cabinet member, does not know that managing the throw forward is a function of the planning department, and not the finance department, and that the then ACS (planning) is now the chief secretary of the province,` he noted.

The former minister also said that there were also questions that appear to deliberately obfuscate facts; for example, he was charged with not controlling polio in the province.

`Interestingly, figures are stated for 2020 and 2022, but hgures for 2021 when there wasn`t a single polio case in the province appear to be deliberately omitted,` he said.

Mr Jhagra insisted that not a single charge stood up to scrutiny, but collectively, the questionnaire and the process employed to date showed mala fide, poor research and political targeting.