PHOTO: REUTERS
Finance Minister Ishaq Dar on Friday unearthed a move to quietly transfer Rs33 billion contingent assets to the buyer of Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM), saving the government from what could have turned into a huge financial scandal.
In a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Privatisation, Dar picked a major discrepancy in the transaction structure of the PSM, officials said. The structure, which had been approved by the board of the Privitisation Commission (PC) just a day earlier, entailed transferring benefits of Rs33 billion deferred tax assets to the buyer of the PSM, confirmed a top finance ministry official.
Officials did not say whether there were any ulterior motives behind the move, but said Dar was very upset at the ‘unprofessional work’ of PC officials. The ill-prepared transaction structure left Dar no option but to offer PSM to the Sindh government on an ‘as it is’ basis.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 3rd, 2015.
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