During PPP government, several scams surfaced in EOBI. One scandal was about purchase of four floors in Faqir Plaza, Lahore for Rs250 million that was said to have caused a loss of over Rs180 million. PHOTO: FILE
According to documents available with The Express Tribune, in a cabinet meeting held on June 10, Minister for Overseas Pakistanis/Human Resource Development Pir Syed Sadaruddin Shah said EOBI had to make huge recoveries of contributions and the government would crack down on persons responsible for the sorry state of affairs.
“Cabinet members are soldiers of the prime minister and will follow his directives,” he remarked.
Shah suggested that new officers and staff should be hired in the EOBI through a transparent process.
During the PPP government, several scams surfaced in the EOBI. One scandal was about purchase of four floors in Faqir Plaza, Lahore for Rs250 million that was said to have caused a loss of over Rs180 million.
In another scam, matters were taken to the Sindh High Court which ordered that names of six former officials of the EOBI and a commercial bank, who were allegedly involved in financial irregularities worth Rs5.2 billion, be placed on the Exit Control List.
Yet another case of swindling was about the purchase of two plots of 40 kanals in Sukkur for Rs120 million.
The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) did also take notice of a mega scandal and launched a probe into the conduct of EOBI management in unauthorised investment and purchase of more than 300 kanals of land from DHA for Rs16 billion, much higher than the market price.
In the cabinet meeting, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar suggested that EOBI affairs should be looked into and a summary should be submitted to the prime minister, proposing remedial measures as well as future course of action.
Expressing concern, Dar said they had got a very short time before the presentation of budget for 2013-14. He asked cabinet members not to set any programmes and meetings outside Islamabad as they were trying to wind up the budget session by June 27.
Published in The Express Tribune, June 15th, 2013.
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Good work Mr. Dar. At least GOP machinery is moving for a change.