PAC irked by NLC culprit’s appointment to CDA management

Prime Minister Gilani gives old job back to Saeedur Rehman.

ISLAMABAD:

Members of the parliamentary Public Accounts Committee, the top legislative watchdog, are incensed over what they feel is the government’s disregard for their investigation into the National Logistics Cell (NLC) scandal, after the prime minister appointed one of the accused in the case to a senior position at the Capital Development Authority (CDA).

Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani reappointed Saeedur Rehman, former chief financial officer of NLC, to his position as finance member at the CDA just seven days after the PAC found him to be one of the five people responsible for causing a Rs1.8-billion loss to the state-owned logistics company.

The PAC’s implementation and monitoring subcommittee termed Rehman’s reappointment “a mockery of the accountability process” that served to demonstrate “how seriously the government takes the PAC.”

“The PAC takes strong exception to the decision and expresses its displeasure,” observed the PAC panel, though it did not announce what it planned to do in response.

The PAC found five men – three retired generals, Rehman and another civilian – to have been responsible for illegal investments in stocks on the Karachi Stock Exchange. On July 1, the PAC ordered the planning and development division, the parent ministry of the NLC, to refer the case to the National Accountability Bureau to move the process towards a judicial prosecution.

Sardar Ayaz Sadiq, a member of the committee from the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), said it was not for the first time that the government had ‘ridiculed’ the PAC’s directives. He said the PAC decision was based on the inquiry report prepared by the planning division.

‘Pay for what you bought’

The PAC also gave the Economic Affairs Division of the finance ministry two months to recover outstanding foreign loans from the owners of formerly state-owned enterprises that were privatised.

The directive comes after the auditor-general of Pakistan told the committee that the buyers of ten privatised units owed Rs2.6 billion to the government.

Economic Affairs Division Secretary Abdul Wajid Rana testified that Rs850 million had already been recovered, of which Rs635 million came from the LTV Group, which had bought a 51% stake in Bankers Equity in 1996. The LTV Group still owes the government Rs1.5 billion. While the sale price was only Rs618.7 million, the outstanding dues rose after the buyer kept delaying payments.

Meanwhile, Tawakal and Saleem Kapoorwala have yet to pay Rs140.9 million for Naya Daur Motors, which they bought in 1993.

Kapoorwala also owes the government another Rs107.6 million for Balochistan Wheel, an automobile parts manufacturer, that he bought in 1992 for Rs276 million. The company, listed on the Karachi Stock Exchange, has earned a net income of Rs601 million over the last six years alone.



Published in The Express Tribune, July 8^th, 2011.