Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: Six sugar mills owned by the ruling political families of Punjab have refused to return Rs 2.051 billion rupees to the government and now the issue has been brought to a parliamentary committee, which is likely to take it up next month.

According to the documents available with Daily Times, the Trading Corporation of Pakistan (TCP), a subsidiary of the Commerce Ministry, paid more than Rs 2 billion to six sugar mills in Punjab to purchase sugar stocks from them, but these mills neither supplied white sugar nor returned the money to the government.

TCP officials invested more than Rs 9 billion rupees without taking permission from the Finance Ministry for investment of public funds.

The authority, which is supposed to take care of public funds, said the investment of huge public funds by the TCP was unsafe. It called for an investigation into the investment and identification of those who imprudently invested the public money for personal gains.

The officials of the Pakistan Tobacco Board, another subsidiary of the corruption-stricken Commerce Ministry, spent Rs 35 million on the purchase of 75 acres of fertile land in different parts of the country for research purposes. The land has now been encroached upon by powerful people and they are not ready to vacate it. According to the documents, the Pakistan Tobacco Board purchased 50 acres of land in the Jampur area in Rajanpur District in Punjab and then surrendered it to powerful political elite of the province.

According to the documents, Pakistan Tobacco Board officials acquired 20 acres of land in the Pishin District in Balochistan and paid Rs 25 million to land owners without taking possession of the land. Now local people are occupying this land.

As per document submitted to the parliamentary committee, Nauman Bashir, whose appointment has been declared illegal, illegally inducted more than 41 officers into the board, causing a Rs 5 million loss to the national exchequer.

The administration of the Expo Lahore, another subsidiary of the Commerce Ministry, purchased 12 chillers worth Rs 163 million to keep the exhibition hall cool. The sources said that only six chillers were installed and the rest were wasted. The matter was brought to the notice of the Commerce Ministry, but the ministry took no action.

The source said that Expo Lahore unnecessarily purchased luxurious carpets worth Rs 2.5 million and then these carpets went missing.

Malpractices and lethargic attitude of officials at the State Life Insurance Company caused Rs 3 million loss to the government, as officer delayed the process of death claims filed by some people.

The administration of the National Insurance Company Limited, a government entity that remained in the news for a multi-billion-rupee scam during the tenure of the last government of the Pakistan People’s Party, hired the services of legal consultants in violation of rules and regulations and caused Rs 26 million loss to the national kitty.

Officials of the Pakistan Reinsurance Company Limited, another subsidiary of the Commerce Ministry, have written off Rs 84 million of blue-eyed policyholders. The company’s travel and consultancy expenses have increased by 147 percent in a year, according to the documents.

Daily Time repeatedly contacted Commerce Minister Khurram Dastgir Khan for his comments on these issues, but it was told that he was having a meeting with some people over the dinner.