Tractor imports: 13 years on, all except President Zardari stand acquitted

Accountability court absolves ex-food minister, Awami Tractor Scheme’s DG.

RAWALPINDI:

An accountability court on Friday absolved former federal minister Nawab Yousaf Talpur and then-director general of Awami Tractor Scheme AMH Kangu of any wrongdoing in the 13-year-old Ursus Tractors Corporation reference, citing ‘lack of evidence’.

Judge Chaudhry Abdul Haq of Rawalpindi’s accountability court handed down the judgment on Friday, leaving President Asif Ali Zardari – who enjoys immunity under the constitution – as the only accused in the case.

The reference was filed with the Ehtesab bench of Lahore High Court in 1998, which carried on despite the absence of original documents for almost 12 years.

The reference was built around the alleged import of 5,900 Russian and Polish Ursus tractors at Rs150,000 apiece under the Awami Tractor Scheme, in violation of the rules and regulations of the Agriculture Development Bank of Pakistan (ADBP).

It was alleged that the deal caused a loss of Rs268.30 million to the ADBP and Rs1.671 billion to the State Bank on account of exemption from customs duty and sales tax.

As many as 11 people, including former premier Benazir Bhutto, Asif Ali Zardari, former minister for food and agriculture Nawab Yousaf Talpur, former chairman Zarai Taraqiati Bank Ltd Badruddin Zahidi and AMH Kangu, were initially named in the reference. Five foreigners and one Amer Lodhi were also named in the reference.

Under the scheme, around 20,000 tractors – 12,000 Belarus and 800 Ursus – were imported from Poland and Russia in 1990.

Later it was alleged that some 3,000 tractors were sold in the open market. The reference, however, put the number at 5,900.

In 2008, after the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, the court struck off her name from the reference. Similarly, Badruddin Zahidi was acquitted following his death.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 14^th, 2012.