ISLAMABAD: The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on Tuesday expressed displeasure over the absence of presidents and CEOs of automobile companies and the non-sharing of data with the Auditor General of Pakistan (AGP).
PAC Chairman Noor Alam Khan warned that if the automobile companies did not share the data till the next meeting the issue would be sent to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).
He directed the ministry of industries and production secretary to ensure the presence of heads of automobile companies in the next meeting of the committee. The PAC chairman said: “What do these manufacturers want to show us by making pictures with political leaders.” He said the prices of vehicles/ cars are going beyond the control of the Ministry of Industries and Production.
Khan headed the meeting of the committee in which the audit paras related to the Ministry of Industries and Production for the financial year 2019-20 were examined. The committee requested the prime minister to open the import of vehicles/ cars to overcome the monopoly of automobile companies in Pakistan. The audit officials said that they still had to receive complete data from 11 companies. Khan warned that if the data was not provided before the next meeting, the committee would send the issue to NAB. He directed the FBR chairman, member of Customs and Inland Revenue, ministry of commerce secretary, SBP governor and SECP chairman to attend the next meeting.
While discussing the distribution of food items at utility stores, the PAC chairman said that subsidised items were only for the poor and underprivileged segment of society, and its distribution should be quite transparent i.e. through a computerised mechanism.
The committee was of the opinion that public representatives should be given importance while distributing subsidised food items to the poor. During the meeting, the PAC directed the Ministry of Industries and Production secretary to lodge FIRs against the employees who got jobs on fake degrees and initiate recoveries from them. It directed that action should also be taken against the officers who made such appointments and asked the secretary to submit a report within seven days.
On the issue of 381 illegal appointments in the National Fertilizer Marketing Limited (NFML), the secretary said that in 2007 a golden shake hand was given but 417 people were hired again in 2012 on contract for ten years.
During the meeting, the audit officials told the committee that Pak-China Fertilizer Limited was privatised in 1992 and 90 per cent of its shares were sold. Committee member Salim Mandviwalla alleged Privatisation Commission sells state-owned entities to ineligible companiesMandviwalla said that the Privatisation Commission had been used to make such deals and the state-owned entity was sold to a company worth a thousand dollars.
To a query, the NAB officials told the committee that Rs20 million had been recovered in 800 kanals of land case that Pakistan Industrial Development Corporation had bought in Sargodha. They said that 12 accused were involved in this case. The NAB officials told the committee that two members of the PIDC board were also among the accused. On the issue of harassment of government officials by NAB, the committee issued directions to the Bureau to be polite in communications. It also directed to include a representative of the audit department in the inquiries conducted by the Federal Investigation Agency and NAB.