ISLAMABAD, Dec 19: Former cricketer and Pakistan Automobile Corporation (Paco) chairman Javed Burki and Paco former managing director Muzzamil Niazi were produced before an accountability court and remanded here on Thursday to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) custody for four days.

They have been arrested for, what the NAB said, causing a loss of Rs1.765 billion to the national exchequer by misusing their authority during the period from 1991 to 1996, the NAB said.

According to preliminary investigation, another former Paco MD, Kunwar Idris, entered into an agreement with the Pakistan Army, in December 1987, for the production of Yasoob Trucks through utilizing assembly and body fabrication facilities for the production of military trucks then technically available in Paco.

In September 1989, the army gave a go-ahead to Paco management to produce six prototypes of six-ton trucks in 12 months for technical evaluation and experimentation through field use.

In July 1990, seven prototypes of trucks were delivered to the army, using technical facilities at the Trailer Development Corporation (TDC), a subsidiary of Paco.

The NAB said Paco was ordered in May 1991 to indigenously produce trucks for the army by utilizing the then existing assembly and manufacturing facilities at its production unit.

Instead of utilizing in-house Paco facilities, both the accused, Javed Burki and Muzzamil Niazi, established new technical facilities for engine, axle and production of trucks in Bin Qasim area through three newly-formed joint-venture companies under the umbrella of Management Partners Ltd (MPL), consis-ting of former Paco employees which constituted minority shareholders from the private sector.

Both the accused allegedly connived with each other to provide unlawful financial gains to themselves and other partners. Resultantly, the Paco suffered huge financial losses and finally, in 1997, a concurrent financial loss to the Directorate General of Military Procurement (DGMP). DGMP’s financial investment into the project through Paco went down the drains.

The investigation further revealed that the aforementioned prototypes of the Yasoob trucks were developed at the Trailer Development Corporation, and Paco spent huge funds for research and development of the project.

Both the accused allegedly colluded to cause a loss to all those organizations which interacted with Paco and the co-accused was appointed managing director of the company, drawing hefty salaries and perks that exceeded the amount of investment in a newly-formed company M/s Trans Mobile Ltd (TML).

The supply order of trucks received from the DGMP was assigned to the TML. The management of the TML was handed over to the MPL.

The supply orders received from the DGMP were assigned to the said company along with the amount of advance received against the production order.

Both the accused allegedly further colluded to transfer the premises from the Trailer Development Corporation to the TML, in spite of concurrently available lucrative production orders from the army. This led to the final closure of the TDC, forcing it to go into liquidation.

The co-accused, Muzzamil Niazi, was transferred from the TDC to Paco just for four days and then was allowed to obtain benefits of voluntary retirement scheme, which he could not have obtained while remaining in the Trailer Development Corporation.