April 9, 2006	Sunday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 10, 1427

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ISLAMABAD, April 8: Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) has demanded of the government to form a parliamentary committee to investigate three Pakistanis involvement in a half-a-billion dollar oil-for-food scam. “We demand of the government to unveil the faces behind this transaction and so the misuse of official authority if any,” said PPP’s spokesperson Farhatullah Babar in a news conference here on Saturday.

The news conference was the PPP’s reaction to the April-5 allegations of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) regarding the kick backs and commissions the party’s chairperson Benazir Bhutto’s company, Petroline, had allegedly offered to the Iraqi government while buying oil under the Oil-For-Food (OFF) programme.

The company, which at present not functioning, was formed by non-resident Pakistani in the UAE of which Benazir Bhutto was also a shareholder, he said.

The OFF was initiated by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan in October 2000 and ended in 2001 allowing the ex-Iraqi President Saddam Hussain to sell oil for the limited purpose of saving his people from hunger. Mr Babar said the programme started and ended during President Gen Pervez Musharraf’s rule and the involvement of three Pakistani companies meant that official authority was misused in Pakistan.

He also shared documents of the Independent Inquiry Committee (IIC) of the United Nations set up by Mr Annan to investigate kick backs committed in the programme with journalists. The documents reveal that three Pakistani companies- M/S A&A Services, M/S B.C International (Pvt) Limited and M/S Oil and Gas Services Group imported oil worth $490million and offered $4million in kick backs to the Iraqi government.

He said he did not know much about the three Pakistani companies. However, it was the responsibility of the government to investigate the matter and share information with the masses.

“Who made how much money from the scam is any body’s guess as the companies have yet to pay $620,000 in commission that is still outstanding against them. But one thing is clear there has been sleaze within sleaze,” he noted.

He said the documents also showed that money involved in the commissions was deposited in Jordan National Bank, between March 2001 and October 2002. One such deposit was also made in Fransabank. The report also shows the names of those people who deposited the amount on behalf of the companies in these banks.

Terming the NAB’s allegations a smear campaign against PPP’s chairperson, he said the bureau was chasing a company of some non-resident Pakistanis in the UAE for alleged corruption in the oil-for-food programme even though there was no misuse of official authority involved. How could NAB refuse to investigate the Pakistani companies that did the same business and paid commissions involving also gross misuse of official authority, he asked.

Documents show that millions of dollars have changed hands in commissions during the 18-month period. This is not possible without the gross misuse of authority, he alleged.

Sharing details of the UN findings he said the A&A Services lifted 100,000 barrels of oil for $14million for which it paid $240,000 in surcharge. The B.C International imported over 8 million barrels for $174million while paying a surcharge of $1.4million. Similarly, the Oil and Gas Services Group lifted over 14 million barrels valuing over $300million after paying $2.6million in commissions.

“The people of Pakistan perhaps would never have learnt of this scam (the three companies) until the NAB claimed on April 5 to have uncovered incriminating evidence against Mohtarama Benazir Bhutto in report of the IIC. This forced the PPP to look up to the UN report and to learn with horror the deadly skeleton in the cupboard of the regime itself”, he observed.

He said the NAB transgressed ‘most inhumanly’ on April 5, while accusing Ms Bhutto. However, it is the law of the Nature to punish transgressors and that the NAB met its nemesis within just three days.

“One feels pity for the NAB, but the stern law of nature seldom pause for pity,” he said.