OGDCL, PPL case: Court seeks reasons for BP assets deal

Petitioner alleges exorbitant price was paid for the purchase of assets.

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Monday sought reasons from the Oil and Gas Development Company Limited (OGDCL) and the Pakistan Petroleum Limited (PPL) about the purchase of British Petroleum’s assets on an exorbitant price.

“If these powerful state institutions – OGDCL & PPL – were found involved in the bidding process, strict action would be taken against their heads for loss being faced by the institutions,” warned a three-member bench of the apex court headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Cahudhry.

The bench, which was hearing petition against the purchase of British Petroleum’s assets on exorbitant price, also directed the companies to submit details of minutes of the meetings of their Board of Governors (BoG) being conducted in this regard.

The petition was filed by Jamaat-e-Islami leader Qazi Hussain Ahmad.

During the proceedings, counsel for the OGDCL, Raja Salman Akram rejected the allegations of the petitioner that the deal caused a loss of $800 million to the national exchequer.

The court expressed its serious concern that the government had earlier sold British Petroleum’s assets at a very low rate in 2002 but now it was buying the same assets at a high price, thus causing a loss of $800 million to the national exchequer

The court directed the counsels for respondents to submit the reasons for the deal on next date of hearing (Tuesday).

Published in The Express Tribune, December 7^th, 2010.