Why was IT secretary removed?

ISLAMABAD: Captain (R) Muhammad Mahmood, a well-known bureaucrat, has been reassigned to the Establishment Division as an Officer on Special Duty.

This move comes amidst allegations of favoritism towards certain Long Distance International (LDI) companies, which have defaulted on payments totaling around Rs76 billion. According to sources within the Ministry of IT and Telecommunications and the Pakistan Telecommunications Authority, Mahmood, during his tenure as Secretary of the IT Ministry, issued policy guidelines that allegedly benefited the defaulting LDI operators. These guidelines allowed the operators to pay only 50 percent of the pending principal dues in 30 quarterly installments. Insiders claim that this decision was made to ease the burden on certain LDI operators in exchange for kickbacks, with a deal allegedly brokered in Dubai.

The Prime Minister’s Office has taken swift action, removing Mahmood from his position, and an investigation is reportedly underway. Mahmood’s career has been marred by numerous corruption scandals and inquiries, including the wheat import crisis of 2023, which led to his suspension from the post of Additional Secretary in charge of the Ministry of Food Security and Research. The reassignment of Mahmood to a bureaucratic backwater position has raised eyebrows, given his history of emerging unscathed from previous scandals.

However, Mahmood has a different version of events. He confirmed his removal was due to the controversy surrounding the recovery of pending dues from LDI operators but strongly denied any wrongdoing. He stated that if any LDI company comes forward with allegations, he is ready to face the consequences.

Mahmood explained that the matter of LDI’s payments had been pending in court for over 15 years. During his tenure, he facilitated an agreement among all companies to pay back the principal amount of Rs25.5 billion to the government exchequer, but the Pakistan Telecommunications Authority (PTA) did not agree to the proposal. He alleged that vested interests created controversy to prevent the government from recovering the long-overdue amount.

The ongoing investigation is expected to shed more light on the allegations against Mahmood. It is pertinent to mention that same officer was also removed in different scandals previously (like ring road scam etc.) however each time he came out clean with more powerful appointment.