ISLAMABAD: A parliamentary panel formed a special committee on Thursday to ascertain whether the petroleum ministry has legal cover to refund money to oil refineries.

A meeting of a sub-committee of Public Accounts Committee on Monitoring and Implementation, chaired by Mian Abdul Mannan, was held on Thursday to review audit paras of the petroleum ministry.

During the meeting, the auditors said that the ministry had violated the rules by refunding around Rs11 billion to oil refinery companies from the profit money which was deposited by these companies for the future expansion plans of the ministry.

However, representatives of the ministry told the committee that, according to the rules, the ministry could refund the money oil companies against a price-differential claim.

To this, Mian Abdul Mannan formed a committee, which will countercheck the claims of both of parties – the Ministry of Petroleum and the Auditor General’s Office.

Published in Dawn, July 25th , 2014