The Auditor General Pakistan Railways (PR) informed the Supreme Court on Thursday that the deal with the Royal Palm Golf Club Lahore has caused a Rs290 million loss to the organisation while the original contract has mysteriously disappeared.
A division bench headed by the Chief Justice was hearing petitions challenging the award of the lease of the Railways land to a foreign company. Counsel for Husnain Construction Company Makhdum Ali Khan maintained that Pakistan Railways has not suffered any loss from the deal.
The Chief Justice remarked that the court would determine the transparency of the deal.
Mian Allah Nawaz, counsel for petitioner Ishaq Khakwani, submitted before the bench that former railways minister Javed Ashraf Qazi misused his authority to conclude the deal. He said that the same tender was approved twice with a different set of terms and conditions. The contract was signed on the same day the lease was approved.
Khan said that his client paid a $2.5 million fee and PR has a 10 per cent share in the revenue. Last year, the Royal Palm Golf Club paid out Rs40 million.
The Chief Justice asked him to account for the profit earned by the Royal Palm Golf Club and to explain why the PR administration was against the company. “When we earn profit, we will certainly pay income tax,” submitted Khan. The firm made an offer in 2004 and it took sixteen months to finalise the deal. “We abided by all the terms and conditions for the golf course and the club house.”
The court adjourned the case till Friday (today).
Published in The Express Tribune, March 18th, 2011.
1726054615-0/OpenAI-(2)1726054615-0-270x192.webp "openai s o1 model tried to copy itself during shutdown tests")
COMMENTS
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ