APNS advertisement claims: PM claims all rules will be followed

Gilani had been accused of authorising a one-time payment that suspended normal procedures.


Express June 17, 2011

ISLAMABAD:


In response to allegations of an improper authorisation of Rs357 million in payments to advertising agencies, Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani has issued an assurance that proper procedures will be followed in making all such payments.


However, official documents state that a one-time relaxation of the rules had been allowed by the prime minister under which advertising agencies were allowed to submit invoices and departmental release orders (DROs) to receive their claims.

The letter issued by the ministry of information and broadcasting states that the relaxation “would be for one time only for payment of outstanding advertisement dues and shall not be quoted as precedence for any future payments.”

Established procedure suggests that all such claims should include tear sheets (the original copies of the advertisements printed) as proof for claims to be made. However, the doing away of this requirement has opened a Pandora’s box as there are suggestions that such a move would allow for misuse on a large scale.

It is unclear what the motive is for the exemption and who amongst the advertising agencies would benefit from it. Government officials suggest that there are very powerful players who are pulling the strings for this payment to be made through bypassing official procedure.

In January, a delegation of the All Pakistan Newspapers Society (APNS) called on the prime minister and asked that dues of advertising agencies for the period from 2000 to 2008 be cleared. It was agreed that a committee be formed that will submit its recommendations. The committee comprised president of the APNS and Secretary Information.

In March, the committee made its recommendations which included that the Press Information Department (PID) would prepare the list of outstanding claims and that claims would be entertained where invoices and DROs are submitted. More important, the committee recommended that the information ministry would make payment of Rs422 million against these claims.

However, a further exercise carried out by the information ministry to verify the claims brought down the figure to Rs357 million. The information ministry then suggested in the letter that since the APNS was pursuing the matter vigorously, the PM should fulfill the claim as relations with the “APNS are put on stake which no government can afford.”

Based on this attempt at keeping good relations, it is believed that the ministry recommended that procedure be deviated from.  However, on Thursday, the APNS clarified that the news is a part of malicious campaign against the APNS and is intended to blackmail advertising agencies.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 17th, 2011.

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