PHC restrains Ehtesab Commission from arresting Sitara Ayaz till Oct 28

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Tuesday restrained the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Ehtesab Commission (KPEC) from arresting Senator Sitara Ayaz of the Awami National Party (ANP) in a case of misuse of power and embezzlement of public funds.
A two-member bench of Justice Irshad Qaiser and Justice Syed Afsar Shah stopped the KPEC from arresting Sitara Ayaz till October 28, the next date of hearing.The KPEC had accused Sitara Ayaz of misusing her position and misappropriating funds when she was a provincial minister in the previous ANP-led provincial government.
The bench also issued a notice to the KPEC and National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. They were directed to submit written replies before the next hearing of the case.
Senator Sitara Ayaz had filed a writ petition in the Peshawar High Court (PHC) against the KPEC for issuing her warrants of arrest. Abdul Latif Afridi and Barrister Mudasir Ameer represented her in the court.
During the course of hearing, the lawyers submitted that the petitioner came to know about the KPEC’s move to arrest her through the media as she had not received any warrant in writing. They submitted that as per the KPEC statement, the petitioner allegedly misused her position as a provincial minister and misappropriated funds.
The two lawyers pointed out that the NAB Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had already initiated an inquiry against the petitioner. They said the KPEC too launched a probe into the same matter in 2015, which was illegal and without jurisdiction. They pointed out that there was no female investigation officer with the KPEC to interrogate the petitioner.
In reply to the court’s query, the KPEC senior prosecutor Lajbar Khan, who was present in the court in connection with another case, informed the bench that the KPEC had instituted a different case against the senator. He submitted that the KPEC inquiry was different from the one initiated by the NAB against Sitara Ayaz.
He said the KPEC inquiry against the petitioner was about misuse of power and embezzlement of funds allocated to the Social Welfare Department.It may be added that three days ago, a three-member team of the KPEC tried to arrest Senator Sitara Ayaz from the federal capital through the Islamabad Police, but she couldn’t be nabbed as the cops said they needed permission to do so from the Senate chairman.
The KPEC had issued warrants for the arrest of Sitara Ayaz for misusing her position, showing favouritism in appointments and misappropriation of funds during her tenure as a provincial minister in the ANP-PPP coalition government.
Official sources said the KPEC Director General Hamid Khan had issued the arrest warrants a few days ago.A KPEC official said the warrant of arrest had been sent to the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provincial police officer and the Islamabad inspector general of police. They were requested for assistance in arresting the legislator.
“Whereas Sitara Ayaz, being a public officeholder as a KP minister for social welfare, women empowerment and special education, is involved in the offences of corruption and corrupt practice as defined under section publishable of the Ehtesab Commission Act 2014 by misusing her authority and thereby caused a huge loss to the government exchequer. I, therefore, in exercise of power conferred upon me under the Act direct to arrest her,” the official quoted from the warrant of arrest.
If arrested, Sitara Ayaz, would be the first woman lawmaker and the first ANP leader to be arrested by the KPEC.The KPEC, set up by the KP government on the instructions of the PTI head Imran Khan to tackle corruption, has so far arrested several influential figures, including the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Member Provincial Assembly and former provincial minister Ziaullah Afridi, and ex-provincial minister Liaqat Shabab, who is also the Pakistan People’s Party’s information secretary. Ziaullah Afridi is languishing in jail while Liaqat Shabab secured bail from the PHC.