SC seeks Sindh govt’s report on arms purchase

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Monday sought a detailed report from the Sindh government in the arms purchase case.
SC judge Jawwad S Khawaja remarked that the days when everything was done silently were over.
“Now everything will be done as per the law and in an open way. The national kitty is not a thing like ‘easy come, easy go’. Under what head was Rs3 million paid to Irfan Qadir? This is public money and it cannot be wasted. The Sindh government too could make purchases within the ambit of the law.” remarked: “The Sindh government should ascertain and tell us if Italian forces were using the helicopters the Sindh government had purchased from them or they had been manufactured only to sell to us”.
At the beginning of hearing, the court was told that the Sindh government had appointed Farooq H Naik as the private counsel in matter of purchase of helicopters, who will appear in the next hearing.
Additional Advocate General Sindh Karim Chaman told the court that a total of 130 fire tenders were to be purchased from the Pakistan Engineering Manghopir, Karachi.Justice Sheikh Azmat asked if rules and regulations were followed for the purchase.
Justice Jawwad remarked: “Pepra rules were not followed. We came to know on the first day that the Sindh government had executed wrong agreements. We had nullified it”.The court asked from where the Rs3 million fees was paid to Irfan Qadir. The court was told that the fee was paid from the national exchequer. A fund was created for the IG Sindh and this amount was paid out from that fund.
The petitioner, Mehmood Akhtar Naqvi, told the court that the agreement was being implemented continuously even after it was annulled by the court.The Sindh government has not written any letter for the termination of agreement. The court while seeking reply from the Sindh government adjourned the hearing till July 7.