As the inquiry into the notorious sugar scam is coming to its logical conclusion, startling revelations are being reported about the amounts that the sugar barons allegedly extorted from the public exchequer in the shape of subsidies and from unsuspecting consumers who were forced to pay higher prices. According to some estimates, as much as over Rs100 billion may have been pocketed by sugar-mill owners. This windfall appears to be the result of an increase in sugar prices due to the scarcity of sugar in the market, which itself was the result of an inappropriate decision by the PTI-led government to allow exports that many of its own ministers had opposed. The Economic Coordination Committee had recommended to the cabinet the decision to export sugar, without considering the likelihood of its shortage in the domestic market which became a primary cause of its higher prices. As the opposition and the ruling party are hurling accusations at each other, it is the people of Pakistan who need an explanation.
The FIA is conducting an inquiry and has conducted interviews of sugar-mill directors, as many owners didn’t turn up at the FIA’s call. The inquiry commission had summoned eight groups of sugar mills for investigations. A detailed forensic audit has also been conducted after the initial report was submitted to the prime minister. The All Pakistan Sugar Mills Association (APSMA) has also participated in the investigation. In the last week of April, the federal government had given additional three weeks to the Sugar Forensic Commission to complete its detailed report on the scandal. It is noteworthy that on April 4, 2020, a high-level inquiry report made the headlines giving details of the sugar and wheat crises that hit the country in January this year. The report had revealed that PTI leader Jahangir Tareen, a brother of Food Minister Khusro Bakhtiar, and PML-Q leader Moonis Elahi were among the prime beneficiaries of the sugar crisis that hit the poor of this country in a big way.
Now a couple of questions still remain unanswered. First, what action has been taken against those who recommended the export of sugar when the country itself was likely to face its shortage, which ultimately happened? Second, why were such huge amounts of subsidies awarded to sugar barons who were already wallowing in their sugar molasses? And finally, when the first report was loud and clear why was there a need to delay punitive action? It has been over four months since the sugar and wheat crises targeted the people of this country. They were not a result of a natural calamity, rather they were deliberate and manmade scourges unleashed on people. The people of Pakistan don’t simply need answers to these questions, they also expect justice done to those who commit such robberies in broad daylight, no matter which party they belong to.