ISLAMABAD: Opposition members of the National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Finance accused the committee chairman on Thursday of toeing the government line and not fulfilling his responsibilities in a just manner.
At a meeting of the committee presided over by its chairman Qaiser Ahmed Sheikh, MNAs of the Pakistan Peoples Party, Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf and Muttahida Qaumi Movement raised the issue of Panama Papers leaks and criticised the finance ministry and the Federal Board of Revenue for not briefing the committee on the matter.
The committee chairman continued to face a barrage of negligence charges from PTI’s Asad Umar and PPP’s Syed Naveed Qamar and Dr Nafisa Shah during the meeting, while Abdul Rashid Godil of the MQM added sarcasm to the discussion against the PML-N leadership.
The ruling party failed to take advantage of their slim numerical edge. Except the backing of PML-N’s Mian Abdul Mannan, the committee chairman could not muster sufficient support from other ruling party members, including Rana Shamim Ahmed Khan, Mohammad Pervaiz Malik, Sheikh Fayyazuddin and Shaza Fatima Khawaja.
PPP MNA Syed Mustafa Mehmud maintained a numerical balance in the committee against the treasury side.
The opposition members alleged that the committee had been delaying a discussion on the Panama scandal for months.
Rashid Godil wondered what was there to hide and why the FBR and the finance ministry were not briefing the committee on the Panama leaks. “Mr Chairman, I think these departments are not taking you and the directives of the committee seriously,” he said.
Asad Umar said the committee was not playing its role properly. “We want a briefing to know what action the finance ministry and its various attached departments have taken so far on the issue of Panama leaks,” he added.
He said the finance ministry had no justification for delaying the matter because it had been decided at a meeting of the committee on April 19 that a briefing by the ministry and the FBR on the issue would be held within 10 days.
Naveed Qamar said: “We want the FBR to give us a briefing on actions it has taken on the Panama leaks before we move forward and take up other agenda items.”
While Mian Abdul Mannan and Pervaiz Malik failed to divert the issue and get it postponed to the next meeting, the committee chairman asked Naveed Qamar: “You are a member of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) and you can have a discussion on the matter there.”
At this, Asad Umar said: “I am not a member of the PAC… so please tell me how Mr Qamar can use my discretion in the PAC.”
It was finally decided that briefing on the Panama leaks issue by the finance ministry and the FBR would be held at the next meeting.
The committee members were briefed by senior officials of the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan on the main features of the Limited Liability Partnership Bill, 2016.
They said the bill would provide a new form of business structure which would fill the gap between business firms such as sole proprietorships and partnerships.
The committee decided to hold a discussion on the bill at the next meeting.
The FBR chairman briefed the committee on differential of income tax between commercial and industrial importers.
The committee decided that a proposal in this regard would be forwarded to the FBR for consideration on the matter.
Published in Dawn, September 9th, 2016
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