PASSCO managing director faces corruption probe

MD denies all charges, says union harassing management.

LAHORE: The managing director of Pakistan Agriculture Storage and Services Corporation (Passco), which is expected to buy wheat worth Rs55 billion in the harvesting season next year, is facing charges of corruption and abuse of authority, The Express Tribune has learnt.

The Auditor General of Pakistan, on the directive of Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, has asked an audit firm to take custody of Passco’s record pertaining to pay structure, payments, procedure for fixing and re-fixing the pay, last pay certificates of the accused and personal files.

The move came following an application sent by All Passco Staff Union President Rana Latafat to the finance minister on November 7.

Latafat alleged that Managing Director Lieutenant Colonel (Retired) Muhammad Younis had withdrawn Rs2.8 million illegally from the organisation in the name of “arrears” and a general manager also did the same and withdrew Rs1.5 million.

Younis, General Manager Human Resources, was given the additional charge of managing director when the federal government removed the incumbent on August 24 over complaints of dubious recruitments.



In May, the Passco management, under the former managing director, allegedly recruited 50 men in a dubious manner during the tenure of the interim government against quota for promotion of serving employees.

“The recruitments were made on national pay scales 5 to 19 from junior clerks to the deputy general manager without meeting the criteria and standards,” said an official who requested anonymity.

Of these, seven were retired army men including five lieutenant colonels and two majors, who were offered hefty packages.

According to Latafat, a probe into leakage of paper during the recruitment process and induction of new men is going on. In this case, Younis is the main accused.

The Passco staff union also wrote two letters to the prime minister over the recruitments to seek his intervention and, resultantly, the former managing director was called back by the Establishment Division.

“We have requested the prime minister to post a competent and honest MD from the civil services to save Passco and ensure purchase of wheat worth Rs60 billion in transparent ways,” said Qasim Tarar, Union’s General Secretary.

In the past, the government, in the absence of a permanent managing director, constituted a penal of three senior general managers to strike financing deals with banks for commodity purchase to avoid abuse of authority.

“Now, a single man who is facing corruption charges is doing all tasks,” another official said.

When approached, Younis stressed that there was no truth in the corruption charges and the union was resorting to blackmail to harass the management.

“Passco has not yet received any final wheat procurement target from the ministry and all arrangements will be finalised at an appropriate time,” he said.

Recruitments in the past were made considering the merit, but the union was raising hue and cry as its interests were not protected in the process, Younis claimed.

No permanent head

“Passco, a state-owned organisation with the critical task to ensure food security in the country, is being run without a permanent head since August and is encountering hurdles to finalising loan deals with banks for wheat purchase,” an official aware of the matter said.

Owing to this, arrangements for the purchase of 1.4 million tons of wheat as well as purchase of gunny bags, polypropylene, kits, pesticides and tarpaulin were in jeopardy, he said.

According to the procurement manual, Passco should start finalising all arrangements from mid-December to start the procurement process in May.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 17^th, 2013.

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