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Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani on Wednesday dismissed two officials who had been convicted by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) courts but were holding government offices as a benefit of the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO).
Gilani removed the two officials – one of them Pir Mukarramul Haq who is the brother of Sindh Education Minister Pir Mazharul Haq. Mazharul Haq is a close friend of President Zardari and a key member of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) from Sindh. Mukarram was appointed the executive director of the Printing Corporation of Pakistan (PCP). The second official to face the axe is Sadiq Ali Khan, who is the managing director of the Federal Employees Benevolent & Group Insurance Funds.
Officials in the Prime Minister’s Secretariat said that in the coming days, a few more people might face the same fate as the government, under pressure from the Supreme Court, attempts to pacify it. Some other prominent public officials are also likely to be cornered, albeit for the time being. However, Gilani is facing stiff resistance from the presidential camp as most of these ‘unwanted’ faces are said to be close to the president.
The PM issued a notification terminating Mukarram’s services from September 8, 2004, the date of his conviction by the accountability court. The notification said that all benefits that he had availed, in the form of salary and allowances, were recoverable.
The grandson of former Sindh chief minister Pir Illahi Bakhsh, Mukarram is the former husband of Farzana Raja, chairperson of the Benazir Income Support Programme. He was charged for involvement in corrupt practices that caused a loss of Rs24 million to the national exchequer, sentenced to seven years of rigorous imprisonment and fined Rs10 million. However, as the current government took charge, Mukarram was re-inducted and paid a hefty amount in lieu of arrears.
According to NAB records, another person Tahir Ali was charged with supporting Mukarram in misuse of authority. In January 1992, the Pakistan Telecommunication Corporation (PTCL) was to place a printing order for telephone directories with the PCP. Mukarram, acting as the managing director, floated a tender for procuring 5,400 metric tons of printing paper for the telephone directory of Karachi Telecommunication Region. The paper was available in the local market at the rate of Rs40,000 per metric ton. However, the tender was later scrapped on account of non-receipt of a firm order from PTCL.
Mukarram then floated another tender for purchasing 2,500 metric tons of paper. He accepted 875 metric tons from the second-lowest bidder, Usman Enterprises of Lahore, at the rate of Rs56,800 per metric ton. The paper was procured on the condition that payment would be made through a local Letter of Credit. However, this was in violation of the PCP’s Procurement Rules & Regulations (1992) but was done in order to give undue favour to M/S Usman Enterprises. However, the paper, which was pledged with the MCB Bank, remained unused even after the order for printing telephone directories. Printing work was sub-contracted to a private firm called M/S Dar Okaz and PCP faced a loss of Rs7.973 million.
Mukarram also refunded the Letter of Credit charges amounting to Rs0.522 million to M/S Usman Enterprises, adding to the PCP’s financial liability. Thus, Mukarram and Ali colluded, resulting in a net loss of Rs23.95 million to the PCP.
The prime minister has also terminated the contract appointment of Sadiq Ali Khan under the Establishment Division with effect from August 14, 2009. Khan, a former officer of the Utility Stores Corporation (USC), was also a beneficiary of the NRO.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 14th, 2010.
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