KARACHI, Aug 24: In a response to a news report that appeared in a section of the press and indicated that the government had sold the Pakistani Engineering Company to Arif Habib Securities, the brokerage house said on Thursday that it had purchased PECO shares from the open market.

“Arif Habib has nine per cent of PECO shares -– purchased not from the National Investment Trust or any government-owned entity but from the general public -– and is entitled to get one of nine PECO directors elected. It is absurd to claim that he can override the other eight directors and take decisions all by himself,” says a press statement issued by the brokerage house.

The news report was based on allegations levelled by the information secretary of the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) at a press conference on Aug 19.