World Bank posting: SC seeks record of PM’s son-in-law’s nomination

PM Ashraf allegedly used his discretionary powers to nominate his son-in-law for the office.

ISLAMABAD:

The Supreme Court sought on Wednesday the complete record of the nomination of Prime Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf’s son- in-law, Raja Azeemul Haq, to the lucrative post of World Bank executive director (ED).

A three-member bench, headed by Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali, was hearing the suo moto case taken up by the apex court on Monday regarding the nomination. The bench also issued notices to the secretaries of the Economic Affairs Division and the Establishment Division in this regard.

The apex court has asked secretaries of the divisions to submit the required record before the next date of hearing, which is fixed for January 7, 2013.

Haq is currently serving in the Prime Minister’s Secretariat as the additional secretary on a grade 21 post, a position that a civil servant usually reaches to after serving for two to three decades, after an out-of-turn promotion in the Employees’ Old-Age Benefits Institution in BPS-20.

Prime Minister Ashraf allegedly used his discretionary powers to nominate his son-in-law for the office, which Pakistan and Algeria hold alternatively.

The ED represents the constituency of seven nations on the World Bank’s Board. The constituency comprises Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran, Tunisia, Morocco, Ghana and Algeria. The post of ED and Alternate Executive Director (AED) rotate between Pakistan and Algeria every two years.

The job of the ED and AED is to defend development projects of all seven countries on the World Bank Board, provide input on macroeconomic reports relating to the constituent countries, giving opinions on global economic issues and defending the quotas and voting rights of the constituency.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 20^th, 2012.