KP forms committee to investigate Ajmal Wazir’s ‘leaked audio clip’

PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has formed a committee to investigate the “leaked audio clip” of KP CM’s former adviser Ajmal Wazir.

According to official notification on Tuesday, Retired bureaucrat Sahibzada Saeed will head the committee, while retired Judge, Muhammad Bashir and a retired police official, Tariq Javed, are part of the team that has been directed to submit the report in three days.

“The commission, through forensics, will find out the reality of the audio clip,” the notification said, adding it would also look into the contents of the controversial audio clip.

According to the notification, the team will apprise the government on the losses incurred to the national exchequer. The commission will also probe the officials who were on duty and examine the “transparency” of advertisements given during Wazir’s tenure, the notification stated.

Secretary Administration Zahir Shah will be the focal person, while the special branch, forensic lab, anti-corruption, and other relevant departments will support the commission in the probe.

On 12 July, Wazir was removed from his post and Kamran Khan Bangash was given the additional charge of the portfolio of Information and Public Relations in addition to his office of Special Assistant to the Chief Minister on Local Government, Elections and Rural Development.

The development came as Wazir was accused of accepting a commission from an advertising agency after a leaked audio recording surfaced. An inquiry into the allegations has been ordered by the KP chief minister.

Meanwhile, Wazir had said that audio clips from various briefings had been cut and stitched together to produce the fabricated audio clip. Wazir had maintained that he had been targeted in a “well-planned conspiracy”.