Opposition tables ‘FIR’ against government: Senate debate on PSM privatisation
By Ahmed Hassan
ISLAMABAD, Aug 17: Continuing their tirade against the prime minister and the members of Cabinet Committee on Privatisation (CCOP), legislators of the combined opposition tabled in Senate on Thursday a unique ‘FIR’ claiming that the scrapped Pakistan Steel sale deal caused a loss of Rs113.438 billion to the exchequer.
The figure is said to include Rs62.338 billion which was not even taken note of in the apex court’s detailed judgment.
More than a dozen parliamentarians from both sides took part in debate on the PSM privatisation deal, which will be concluded on Friday morning by the minister for privatisation.
In his stormy speech, Dr Zaheeruddin Babar Awan of PPP-Parliamentarian demanded that the ‘accused’ must be arrested under the NAB law, after an FIR was lodged against them for ‘misuse of power’ and ‘corruption’ in the PSM privatisation process.
He cited four cases of commission and omission and misuse of power — two against Benazir Bhutto and one each against Nawaz Sharif and Manzoor Wattoo. All of them were tried under the NAB ordinance, he added.
He questioned the credentials of stock exchange broker Arif Habib “who ran advertisements of millions of rupees on all private television channels and newspapers” based on General Musharraf’s speech at a time when the process of the PSM privatisation was in progress.
Citing examples of omission and commission from the judgment, Mr Awan said: “The CCOP decision not only reflected disregard of the mandatory rules but also of all material which was essential for arriving at a fair reference price; and while approving the summary rule 4 of the privatisation, (modes and procedures) of rules 2001 were totally ignored and instead abdicated its authority.”
“The CCOP totally ignored proposal of the Board of Privatisation Commission that the net assets should also be included while valuing the project,” he said.
Quoting Supreme Court which said “this transaction is outcome of a process reflecting serious violation of law and gross irregularities with regard to sale of the first and biggest steel mills that this country has”, Mr Awan demanded that the NAB should propose punishment for these irregularities under section 9(a), (vii) of NAB ordinance 1999.
The apex court, he said, also pointed out that pleadings on behalf of Arif Habib substantiated that his involvement in litigation was in the knowledge of the Privatization Commission.
The losses caused to the exchequer included 75 per cent extension of equity stake, Rs15 billion in VSS, Rs7.67 billion in payment of steel mills debts without commitment, Rs12 billion value of inventories, Rs1 billion fraud of excess tax, Rs8.517 billion cash in hand, Rs12.151 billion in case of permission to operate the mills and Rs6 billion in tax evasion, he explained.
In his speech, Sardar Mehtab Ahmed of PML-N said the Supreme Court verdict avoided a “daylight robbery by the dictators”.
Minister for Inter-provincial Coordination Salim Saifullah Khan said the government had constituted CCI before the Supreme Court verdict and the constitutional body had already started working.
