Consumers made to pay price of gas theft: SC

Court puts Ogra chief, petroleum secretary on notice over Tauqeer Sadiq’s selection.

ISLAMABAD: Rejecting the National Accountability Bureau’s (NAB) report, the Supreme Court summoned the incumbent chairman of the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) and the secretary of Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources to explain issues relating to the illegal appointment of Tauqeer Sadiq as the chairman of Ogra.

During Monday’s proceedings, Ogra Chairman Saeed Ahmad and Petroleum Ministry Secretary Dr Waqar Masood were put on notice to appear before the apex court on October 17 after the court termed the bureau’s report unsatisfactory — directing NAB to take immediate legal action against all those involved in the gas theft scam.

Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry led a three-judge bench of the apex court and issued the directives after conducting proceedings on a fortnightly report sought from the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) in implementation of its earlier judgment on the illegal appointment of the former chairman of Ogra.

The two top officials were summoned over the unprecedented rise in price of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) and the court asked why the consumers were paying the price of losses resulting from theft.

During the hearing NAB’s Investigation Officer Waqas Ahmad informed the bench that line losses were incurred due to the Unaccounted for Gas (UFG), conversion of operating into non-operating expenses and as a result of the reduced development gas surcharges. He added that Sadiq’s appointment resulted in a loss of Rs83 billion to the oil and gas sector and the bureau was still to recover Rs44 billion of that.

The investigating officer told the court that 460 marketing licences were issued to set up CNG stations in the country during Sadiq’s tenure which precipitated the gas shortfall and caused its theft — adding that CNG price per kg may be increased to Rs105 within the next few days. He added that acceptable line losses stood at 1% according to international standards, but in Pakistan line losses were mounting to 10%.

Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry observed: “What is the rationale behind increasing the price of CNG every week at the cost of consumer instead of taking measures to stop line losses?”.

Meanwhile, NAB Additional Prosecutor General Fauzee Ahmad informed the bench that they were making all out efforts to arrest the former Ogra chief. Justice Khawaja told NAB officials that it was their duty to prosecute the officials who had illegally appointed Sadiq.

Background and repercussions

Alleged to have caused an estimated loss of around Rs83 billion to the national exchequer, Ogra’s former chairman Sadiq – who continues to elude arrest – is also said to have put the careers of a couple of bureaucrats and top politicians including the chief executive of the country at stake.

There are seven people whose careers appear to be on the line.

These include five members of the selection committee which recommended his name including: Prime Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf (head of the committee in his capacity as minister for water and power), then cabinet secretary Zafar Mahmood, former secretary Shaukat Hayat Durani, former secretary Sikandar Mikan and former senior official of the Cabinet Division Munir.

The sixth official is another Cabinet Division official who replaced Munir in the Second Selection Committee while the other members remained the same.

And the seventh person is former premier Yousaf Raza Gilani who had appointed Sadiq as the chairman of Ogra after having rejected him just five months ago.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 16^th, 2012.