Tareen, Shehbaz find fault with findings

Moonis Elahi says he backs commission’s recommendations

ISLAMABAD: PTI stalwart Jahangir Tareen and PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday refuted the findings of the sugar crisis inquiry commission, which has prepared a damning report on how the country’s sugar barons make windfall profits by exploiting farmers, underreporting their profits, market manipulation and fraud.

After the government went public with the report, Tareen, who owns shares in the JDW Sugar Mills – one of the mills mentioned in the report, said he was “shocked” by the allegations against him.

“I have always run a clean business. All [of] Pakistan knows I always pay full price to my growers,” he tweeted.

I am shocked at the kind of false allegations levelled against me. I have always run a clean business. All Pakistan knows I always pay full price to my growers. I DO NOT maintain 2 sets of Books. I pay all my taxes diligently. I will answer every allegation and be vindicated IA.

— Jahangir Khan Tareen (@JahangirKTareen) May 21, 2020

He also denied charges that he maintained two books and insisted he paid his taxes diligently.

The commission had found that sugar mills had double books -- one account that was shown to the FBR, the SECP etc and the other that was prepared for the owner to show them the actual profits. It also accused them of evading taxes.

“I will answer every allegation and be vindicated,” Tareen said.

The PML-N chief claimed that his children were named in the report but they did not export sugar.

According to the report, Al Arabiya Mills, owned by the PML-N leaders’ son Salman Shehbaz, was found to be involved in committing a fraud of around Rs400 million through informal receipts and market manipulation. The mill made an additional profit of Rs1.3 billion and Rs780 million in n 2017-18 and 2018-19 respectively.

Sugar barons’ web of deceit unravelled

“The report is nothing but deception,” Shehbaz said while speaking on a TV talk show. “The commission did not record the statement of Prime Minister Imran Khan, who is responsible for the export of sugar,” he added.

Shehbaz said the mill owned by his son not have any surplus sugar so it could not have exported it.

The commission also audited the Alliance Mills, which is owned by the RYK Group, in which PML-Q leader and Punjab Assembly Speaker Pervaiz Elahi’s son Moonis Elahi owns shares.

“As stated earlier I am neither involved in the management nor am I on the board of any sugar mill,” Moonis tweeted.

“I strongly support the recommendations of the commission to control satta[gambling]/speculation including new legislation to help the government control sugar price manipulation.”

The commission found that the Sindh government had given subsidy in 2017-18 to benefit only the Omni Group.

Sindh government spokesperson Murtaza Wahab said the allegations were baseless and the commission was only supposed to probe into the crisis that emerged in 2019-20.

He added that the commission was apparently targeting political opponents as Punjab had given subsidy to the mills in 2019-20 as well.

PML-N Senior Vice President Shahid Khaqan Abbasi noted that the report did not even mention PM Imran, who had allowed the export of sugar, and Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar, who had granted subsidy on its export.

“This is a media circus that is meant to distract the nation so that Imrna Khan can be given another NRO,” he added.

The PML-N leader said the party would chalk out a future course of action after thoroughly reading the report.