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ISLAMABAD, Feb 16: Pakistan Muslim League-N on Wednesday accused Gen Pervez Musharraf of causing about Rs300 billion losses to the national exchequer during his four-and-a-half years rule.
In a fact sheet distributed to the media persons at a press conference here on Wednesday, PML-N Information Secretary Siddiqul Farooq said Pakistan Railways (PR) had suffered a loss of Rs30.26 billion over the past four years and asked the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to probe into the alleged corruption committed in the railways.
Mr Farooq said Railways Minister Mian Shamim Haidar had told the National Assembly on October 14, 2004 that PR had suffered a loss of Rs16.20billion during the tenure of his predecessor Lt Gen (retired) Javed Ashraf Qazi.
Similarly, during 2001-2002, Mr Farooq maintained, the federal government had given a subsidy of Rs10.4billion to the PR. When Ghaus Mehr Bakhsh was the railways minister, the department suffered a loss of Rs14.16 billion due to which the federal government had to give a subsidy of Rs16.10billion to the department.
Mr Farooq said a reference was pending with the NAB against Javed Ashraf Qazi for the past two year, however, no action had so far been taken against him. He said during the past four years more than 30 per cent increase had been made in the railway fares, while about Rs 90million had been wasted on the embellishment of railway rest houses.
DELAYED MEGA PROJECTS: Mr Farooq observed that during the tenure of the deposed government of Muhammad Nawaz Sharif, some mega projects, including Gwadar Port, Ghazi Barotha Project, Islamabad Airport, Pindi Bhattian-Faisalabad motorway, Apna Ghar Scheme, Indus Highway and Makran Coastal highway, were initiated, which were delayed by Musharraf soon after he took over. As a result, he added, the cost of these projects further increased putting an extra burden of Rs150 billion on the national exchequer.
AGPR: Quoting figures of the Auditor General of Pakistan Revenue (AGPR), he said 85 units of nine ministries suffered a loss of Rs65 billion. Besides, he said, a massive corruption of Rs633.7 million had been committed in the execution of various construction and communication projects by the local governments only in Punjab.
On the one hand, he said, Gen Musharraf claimed economic growth and ending foreign debts, on the other foreign loans worth $9 billion had been taken during the first four and a half years of his government.
During the first four years of Musharraf government, he said, an amount of Rs52 billion had been added to the non- performing debts, while an amount of Rs52 billion was added to the country's default. He said Rs30 billion worth of debts of some big names had been written off.
The NAB, he said, was being used as a tool to force the people to change their political loyalties, while it had yet to play its real role of checking corruption.
About the arrest of the additional director, NAB, Maj (retired) M.A. Lodhi, he said Mr Lodhi had been arrested by the NAB because he was not paying share to other officials in the bounty he had taken in shape of corruption.
