PAC gives NICL a pat on the back

ISLAMABAD: The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has said that it was heartening to note that National Insurance Company Limited’s (NICL) pre-tax profit and investment for the current year is the highest in a decade, a statement said on Wednesday. 

The PAC meeting, held under the chair of its head, Syed Khurshid Ahmed Shah, Opposition Leader in the National Assembly, reviewed the company’s performance over the last ten years. 

Ameen Bandukda, chairman NICL board and Capt M Jamil Akhtar Khan, chief executive officer (CEO) NICL gave briefed the PAC meeting on the last ten year’s performance of the company. Secretary Commerce Younas Dagha was also present at the meeting to brief the PAC on the subject.  

According to the statement, the meeting was informed that the financial leakages and expenses under different heads have been curtailed drastically during the period and this has contributed to the increase in the profits of the company. 

On the point of appointments, the chairman NICL board said that all nine appointments had been made purely on merit. “The entire board of directors was involved in recruiting and selection process, which also included the additional secretary of the Ministry of Commerce, representing the ministry in the board,” Bandukda said. 

He also pointed out that a detailed letter was sent to the Ministry of Commerce on May 18, 2017 by the CEO of the company on this issue with all the relevant facts. 

Going forward, the committee also took the Federal Investigation Agency and National Accountability Board to task over the slow progress of the inquiry into a property scam worth Rs3 billion that rocked the company some years back. 

Moreover, the committee members were also shocked to learn that the title of the Dubai property was still not transferred in the name of NICL due to certain outstanding amounts and that the NICL was without a Board, a CEO and other key officials since 2011 and they inquired as to who was managing NICL during that period. 

To this, the chairman of the BoD assured the committee of considerable improvements in the current year.  “In this regard, the BoD will also conduct an annual review of the performance of the CEO against the KPIs and a detailed report will be presented to the concerned body,” he said.