PHOTO: FILE
KPOPGCL CFO Javed Ghafoor left after disagreements with the company’s chief executive officer (CEO) Mohammad Raziuddun, according to sources in the K-P government.
“He resigned on November 1,” said an official of the company requesting not to be named. His name and contact details have been removed from the KPOGCL website.
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Earlier, Ghafoor accused Raziuddin of malpractices and irregularities, both of technical and administrative nature, fund embezzlement, misuse of authority and tricking the K-P government.
He presented the allegations during a meeting of the company’s Board of Directors in August after which the board established an inquiry committee to probe the allegations.
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) senator Noman Wazir was nominated to chair the committee also comprising K-P Small and Medium Enterprises Development Authority (SMEDA) Provincial Chief Javed Khattak, former additional secretary at the Ministry of Petroleum and Energy Naeem Malik and the chief financial officer of Water and Sanitation Services Peshawar (WSSP).
The committee is yet to submit a report though, it has been learnt from sources that Ghafoor had recently approached the board, as well as the committee to retract the allegations.
“He wrote that he had earlier missed certain documents, which make up for the disparity originally reported by him. He also said that those documents make it clear that matters are as per usual in the company,” said an official who had seen the said document.
According to Ghafoor’s original allegations, CEO Raziuddin was constantly bluffing the K-P government, the public and the board of directors by giving fake presentations and taking credit for the oil and gas production of other entities, especially since KPOGCL had not produced a single barrel so far.
He had added that the KPOGCL did not have a license for any of the seven blocks it claims to own.
“The director general Petroleum Concession does not even recognise the existence of the blocks except Lakki, which too they intend to award through competitive bidding, if they get around to it,” he said.
Similarly, he accused the CEO of criminal human resource practices and of employing daily wagers. He also accused him of making procurement on cash rather than following proper procedure and the rules of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Public Procurement Authority (K-PPRA).
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Ghafoor also noted in the document that Raziuddun opted to enhance the K-P government’s share in Baratei Block (Kohat) from 2.5% to 15% which meant the government had to pay Rs350 to Rs400 million immediately to the company working in the block, while the chances of success are very low since the company has no oil in their wells.
He also alleged that consultants for ambiguous jobs were hired at high fees without following KPPRA rules and were assigned company official cars without entitlement.
Ghafoor could not be reached for comments as he has left the city and switched off his cell phone while Raziuddin called the allegations baseless.
“He himself went to the secretary [K-P energy and power] and the [inquiry] committee and gave it to them in writing that the allegations hold no merit and were put together before all relevant documents were consulted,” said Raziuddin, adding that since he had retracted the allegations, they were obviously not true.
“He resigned from the post on October 31; and about a month before he resigned he had withdrawn the allegations,” he said.
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