PHOTO: REUTERS
The board chairman and a board director stay overseas and collect expenses from the company for international travel and stay in five-star hotels in Islamabad for several days when they visit the country, according to sources.
They have also constituted some committees such as the transformation committee and whenever they want, they call their meetings and visit Pakistan at the company’s expense. Recently, according to sources, the board chairman forced the company management to stop officials desiring to attend an energy conference in Houston, US and visited himself by spending $10,000.
The board had held all its meetings in Serena Hotel but the current huddle was held in the company office as the managing director refused to allow spending on meetings in five-star hotels. The OGDC board chairman is using Pakistan State Oil, Sui Northern Gas Pipelines and Sui Southern Gas Company guest houses in Islamabad to entertain his guests. All such expenses are paid by OGDC, sources say.
The board chairman was pressing the company managing director to arrange accommodation on rent in Islamabad at company expenses, but the MD refused. The chairman is also allegedly pressing the top management to start training courses in the OGDC training institute so that he could pocket $5,000 per course as a trainer.
It is interesting to note that the board chairman is drawing a month salary of Rs200,000 per month.
The board of directors has hired four executive directors each at a heft package of Rs1.4 million per month. According to service rules, a candidate should have 26 years of experience but executive officers having less experience were hired. The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has started investigation into the allegations of illegal appointments at the executive management level under provisions of the NAB Ordinance 1999.
It has sought necessary record and information for logical and timely conclusion of the investigation. It has also sought photocopies of the latest advertisements for posts of executive director (Petroserve) and executive director (human resources) along with its approval by the OGDC board and human resources department.
A complete list of applications received for these posts along with a chart showing the candidates’ qualifications and experience has been sought. The anti-corruption watchdog has also demanded details of the shortlisting committee and the list of shortlisted candidates along with a chart showing their qualifications, experience, etc.
Score sheets of shortlisted candidates along with the criteria for giving the score and the current status of successful candidates along with their qualification credentials and experience certificates have also been sought. When contacted, an OGDC spokesperson said company directors were entitled to receiving meeting fee as was customary in all companies in public and private sectors. “Directors are also reimbursed out of pocket expenses in case travel and boarding/lodging expenses are not provided. This is according to the Articles of Association of the company and Companies Act 2017,” the spokesperson said.
He pointed out that the federal government had appointed two overseas Pakistanis as directors on the OGDC board. “It is the company’s responsibility to arrange for their travel as per their entitlement whenever a board meeting is scheduled. Remuneration for the chairman is determined by the board and no deviation from the process has been made in this regard,” he added.
The Petroleum Division spokesperson said the division was not involved in the OGDC board and company work. “OGDC has its own service structure and questions about appointments should be answered by the company management,” the spokesperson said.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 24th, 2019.
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