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ISLAMABAD: An inquiry report submitted by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) in the Supreme Court has found serious irregularities in the appointment of former chairman of Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) which contributed to over Rs52 billion of losses to consumers and illegal issuance of licences for setting up of CNG stations.
The report has been prepared on the instructions of the apex court that struck down the appointment of Tauqir Sadiq as Ogra chairman on Nov 25. The court had directed the NAB to conduct an inquiry and submit the report within 45 days.
The NAB report concluded that professional experience as claimed by the former chairman was false and the appointment procedure was irregular because it was done in a casual and negligent manner in “disregard to the rules and due diligence required for such a high stature position. Some areas indicate reckless attitude by the government functionaries while others hint about the calculated move to get Tauqir Sadiq selected”.
According to the report, the issue of converting operating income of gas utilities to non-operating income is a glaring example of the misuse of authority and illegal decision by the former Ogra chief and was in violation of the federal government practice in vogue for two decades.
Mr Sadiq along with other members relaxed the ceiling for unaccounted for gas (UFG) from 5 per cent to 7 per cent, causing a loss of Rs52 billion in the oil and gas sector.
In the instant case, the increase in losses allowed by Ogra caused a damage of about Rs5 billion in 2009-10 alone, despite failure of the gas companies to bring up any substantive reason for the revision.
It noted that in about five cases of gas theft, the member gas issued stay orders despite the fact that as per regulation he did not have the authority to entertain these cases, particularly when the designated office had already established the theft.
The report said the former Ogra chief and others misused the authority in illegal relocation of CNG stations despite a ban on new CNG stations.
The government guidelines were not adhered to by the chairman who exceeded his powers to decide the matter on a case to case basis according to his own whims and wishes that was discretionary and arbitrary.
The report said the former Ogra chief illegally created unauthorised posts in his office and appointed about 50 officers, including his nephew, in exercise of his discretion and without following transparency and government policy parameters.
It said that Ogra paid legal and professional charges of Rs17 million in two years, of which more than Rs13 million were paid to lawyers appointed out of the approved panel.
The report found financial irregularities in establishment of Ogra chairman’s office, discrimination in provision of training facilities, non-compliance of minutes of meeting at the prime minister’s secretariat, harassment of he Ogra staff and illegal inquiry against two Ogra members forcing them to resign.
The report concluded that “the detailed analysis of change of site cases, order of injunction in theft cases, increase in well head price in Dewan Petroleum case, change of operating income to non-operating income and increase in UFG benchmark resulted in loss of billions of rupees. All these decisions taken by former Ogra chairman Tauqir Sadiq and members concerned (Kamal Marri and Mansoor Muzaffar) show that how the public interest was compromised, facts were twisted and authority was misused.
The NAB recommended the need for scrutiny of record for deliberation and to substantiate the allegation of conversion of the inquiry into investigation.
