NLC SCAM: PAC extends deadline for action against ex-generals
The committee had set June 30 as the final deadline.
ISLAMABAD:
As the army’s General Headquarters (GHQ) failed to meet what was considered the final deadline, the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) – parliament’s most powerful accountability arm – has given the armed forces two more days to submit their report on the involvement of three former generals in the multi-billion-rupee National Logistic Cell (NLC) scam, sources said.
A committee constituted by the General Headquarters was supposed to submit its report about the alleged involvement of three former army generals – in the financial scam by June 30 – which, according to the PAC chairman, was the ‘final deadline’.
“We needed more time, but the PAC secretariat has given us two more days,” a defence official told The Express Tribune on Thursday.
Following an inquiry, the PAC, headed by the leader of Opposition in the National Assembly Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, had held Lt General (retd) Khalid Munir Khan, Lt General (retd) Mohammad Afzal Muzzafar, Major General (retd) Khalid Zaheer Akhtar and a top bureaucrat responsible for causing a Rs1.8 billion-loss to the national kitty.
The PAC had recommended that the GHQ to take action and recover the losses from the former top military officials concerned in the NLC scam, which dates back to 2008.
Between 2003 and 2008, the management of the NLC – the commercial logistic arm of the military – borrowed Rs4.2 billion from commercial banks and invested the money alongwith pensioners’ funds to invest in the stock market.
Since February 2009, the PAC has been struggling to reach a conclusion in the closely-watched case.
Although the PAC appears determined, it has so far refrained from announcing the penalties. During its meeting on June 13, defence officials had told the committee that the GHQ’s internal ‘Court of Inquiry’ had completed its report and the military top brass was reviewing it, after which it will be submitted to the parliamentary committee.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 1st, 2011.
As the army’s General Headquarters (GHQ) failed to meet what was considered the final deadline, the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) – parliament’s most powerful accountability arm – has given the armed forces two more days to submit their report on the involvement of three former generals in the multi-billion-rupee National Logistic Cell (NLC) scam, sources said.
A committee constituted by the General Headquarters was supposed to submit its report about the alleged involvement of three former army generals – in the financial scam by June 30 – which, according to the PAC chairman, was the ‘final deadline’.
“We needed more time, but the PAC secretariat has given us two more days,” a defence official told The Express Tribune on Thursday.
Following an inquiry, the PAC, headed by the leader of Opposition in the National Assembly Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, had held Lt General (retd) Khalid Munir Khan, Lt General (retd) Mohammad Afzal Muzzafar, Major General (retd) Khalid Zaheer Akhtar and a top bureaucrat responsible for causing a Rs1.8 billion-loss to the national kitty.
The PAC had recommended that the GHQ to take action and recover the losses from the former top military officials concerned in the NLC scam, which dates back to 2008.
Between 2003 and 2008, the management of the NLC – the commercial logistic arm of the military – borrowed Rs4.2 billion from commercial banks and invested the money alongwith pensioners’ funds to invest in the stock market.
Since February 2009, the PAC has been struggling to reach a conclusion in the closely-watched case.
Although the PAC appears determined, it has so far refrained from announcing the penalties. During its meeting on June 13, defence officials had told the committee that the GHQ’s internal ‘Court of Inquiry’ had completed its report and the military top brass was reviewing it, after which it will be submitted to the parliamentary committee.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 1st, 2011.