SSGC officials involved in terror finance, panel told

Three officials arrested by Rangers include deputy managing director

ISLAMABAD:

The senior Sui Southern Gas Company officials detained by the Rangers in recent days are allegedly involved in funding militant groups, SSGC Managing Director Khalid Rahman told a parliamentary committee on Tuesday, adding that many others are in hiding.

“Eight SSGC top management officials have gone underground, following the recent action by the Rangers and I am the only one left in the Company,” Rahman told the National Assembly Petroleum and Natural Resources Committee, chaired by Bilal Ahmed Virk, on Tuesday.

When asked by Virk how many SSGC officials had been arrested, Rahman said that three had been arrested so far. “I have talked to Director General Rangers and assured him of full cooperation in the investigation against SSGC officials,” he said.

Among the officials facing terrorism financing charges was SSGC Deputy Managing Director Shoaib Warsi.

New gas connections

Petroleum Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi told the committee that the government had imposed a ban on new commercial and industrial gas connections in 2011 due to serious gas shortages. He added that in Punjab there was no gas available for new consumers, while hundreds of thousands applications for new gas connections were pending with the state-owned Sui Northern Gas Pipelines (SNGP), the monopoly gas utility in Punjab, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, and parts of northern Sindh.

“We are moving this matter to the Council of Common Interests (CCI) to remove the ban on new domestic gas connections in Punjab, because according to the constitution, every Pakistani has the right to have access to this commodity,” Abbasi said, adding that majority of the industrial units seeking gas connection were not using gas for industrial use but for power production. The constitution has no mention of a right to natural gas use.



Petroleum Concessions Director General Saeedullah Shah told the panel that action had been initiated against those oil and gas exploration companies involved in a delay for initiating development projects. “We have cancelled exploration licenses of six companies and also served show-cause notices on six more companies for a delay in exploration work,” he said.

SNGP officials told the panel that there was illegal pipeline network of 1,600 kilometers Karak. “We would need Rs6.6 billion to lay a legal network in this area,” they said, adding that the company had suffered a loss of Rs13 billion during the last year due to the illegal pipeline network. They said that 1,800 applications had been submitted for new gas connections in Karak but no one was ready to deposit money.

A Deputy Inspector General of the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Police informed the committee that police had registered 139 cases in Kohat and Karak following complaints by SNGP. “The court has dismissed 22 cases after SNGP did not pursue these cases,” he said.

Committee member and former Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Akram Durrani said that Rs27 billion was being collected from Kohat, Karak and Hangu on account of royalties but the government was not ready to invest Rs3 billion to lay gas pipelines in these areas.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 2^nd,  2015.