PESHAWAR - Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government on Thursday formally terminated Shams-ul-Qayyum as managing director of the Bank of Khyber over misconduct.
The notification to this effect was issued by KP Finance Ministry. The BoK MD was charged with breaching section-7 of his employment contract. The termination notice available with The Nation said that in light of section-7 of the contract agreement, publication of baseless allegations against the finance minister/government of KP constituted misconduct on the part of the head of the bank.
On April 16, 2016, Shams-ul-Qayyum through an advertisement in newspapers had levelled serious allegations against KP Finance Minister Muzaffar Said, who belongs to Jamaat-e-Islami, a coalition partner in the PTI-led government, upon which the former had lodged a complaint with the latter against the MD.
Shams-ul-Qayyum had accused Muzaffar Said of corruption, nepotism and interference in affairs of the KP government-run bank. The advertisement was apparently given in reaction to an interview of the finance minister published on April 14, 2016 where he had said that he was not taken into confidence on the issue of the voluntary separation scheme (VSS) by the bank management.
Later, the bank management floated another advertisement seeking an apology for publication of the first advertisement. However, it could not satisfy the JI leadership, which even threatened to withdraw from the coalition if the MD was not removed.
On Wednesday, the KP cabinet considered complaints of the JI leaders and the KP finance minister and unanimously decided to issue 7-day written termination notice to the BoK MD. The notice further said that after expiry of 7 days notice, the contract agreement will cease to exist.