ISLAMABAD, Oct 4: The National Assembly standing committee on finance and revenue on Monday considered the National Development Finance Corporation (NDFC) Repeal Bill 2004 which was referred to it by the Lower House.

The committee met under the chairmanship of Chaudhry Anwar Ali Cheema at the Parliament House. Briefing the standing committee, Finance Secretary said due to huge financial losses and weak financial health, the NDFC could not carry out its functions, therefore, the then chief executive of Pakistan approved its amalgamation with National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) in August 2001.

In pursuance of the amalgamation scheme, the NDFC was amalgamated with the NBP on November 1, 2001, and the outstanding claims of the federal government amounting to Rs14.431 billion and that of State Bank amounting to Rs1.432 billion were written off, he added.

The secretary said employees of the defunct NDFC had either been absorbed in the NBP or offered golden handshake. The National Development Finance Corporation Repeal Bill aims at providing legal cover to the amalgamation process. The standing committee would further discuss the bill in its next meeting.

The meeting was attended by MNAs Kashmala Tariq, Riffat Amjad, Sardar Tufail Ahmad Khan, Malik Mohammad Saifullah Khan Tiwana, Sardar Mohammad Jaffar Khan Leghari, Syed Haider Abbas Rizvi, Ghulam Murtaza Satti, Khalid Iqbal Memon, Liaquat Baloch, Mohammad Laeeque Khan, finance secretary and officers of other concerned departments.