With the three-day physical custody of former minister for mines and minerals Ziaullah Afridi coming to an end on Friday, it seems he will not be a free man any sooner, as the Ehtesab Commission has booked the former minister in yet another mining scam.
Former provincial minister for mines and mineral development Ziaullah Afridi was presented on Friday before the provincial accountability, and sent on a 6-day remand following a new case filed by the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Ehtesab Commission (KPEC) against the PTI leader, who is already in the commission's custody. According to sources said that an Accountability Commission had filed a fresh reference against the former provincial minister over charges of corruption and misuse of authority and produced Afridi before Ehtesab judge Justice Hayat Ali Shah.
Ehtesab officials argued that in the Tangi chromites case, Ziaullah Afridi's misuse of powers had caused Rs 3 billion loss to the national exchequer. The court, after hearing the Ehtesab commission's arguments, sent the former provincial minister on a 6-day remand.
Afridi was arrested by the provincial accountability commission on July 9 on charges of misusing authority and allowing illegal mining in various areas in a separate case and had been sent on a 13-day remand, which had been extended by the court. He was reportedly suspected of not having exercised his powers as minister to prevent loss to the exchequer caused by illegal mining, rather facilitating them for personal gains.
The PTI had earlier asked Afridi to resign from the cabinet or be ready to face sacking. Afridi had challenged his arrest in the Peshawar High Court, alleging that he was being implicated in a false case at the behest of Khattak for "not facilitating the front men of the chief minister in illegal acts". According to a handout issued by the commission, the accused, as mines and mineral minister, used his position to influence the members of mining committee to process and give favours in the renewal and assignment of Chromites Tangi mines from Muhammad Ayaz to Jalal Khattak against the Mining Concession Rules 2005. The document added the mines were supposed to be auctioned and the previous contract was not meant to be renewed.