The Supreme Court on Monday sought a reply from the finance secretary within four weeks on who financed the advertisements that appeared in the print media in favour of Zaka Ashraf, former head of the Zarai Taraqiati Bank Limited (ZTBL) and the incumbent chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB).
A two-member SC bench comprising Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry and Justice Khilji Arif Hussain was hearing a petition filed by the senior executive vice president of ZTBL, Nadeem Chohan through his counsel Abdul Rauf challenging Ashraf’s appointment as head of ZTBL. Zaka Ashraf, who is also chairman of the Ashraf Group of Industries, is considered a close friend of President Asif Ali Zardari. The petitioner also sought recovery of huge losses suffered by the nation because of irregularities and corruption allegedly committed by Ashraf as ZTBL head.
The court was informed that the petition had become ineffective as Ashraf had now been appointed the PCB chairman.
The chief justice asked when Ashraf was no more the ZTBL chairman, how come advertisements were being published in his favour. He said if Ashraf’s appointment as the ZTBL head was illegal, the court could examine it.
Meanwhile, the court was informed that a case was pending adjudication in the Islamabad High Court (IHC) against Zaka Ashraf. The court then directed the IHC to dispose of the pending case within four weeks. The court adjourned further hearing for an indefinite period.
According to the petition, on August 30, 2008, the Finance Division had nominated Ashraf as president of the ZTBL and the bank’s board of directors confirmed his appointment on September 3, 2008. But the central bank declared him unfit to hold the post. Subsequently, challenged before the Rawalpindi bench of the Lahore High Court, the appointment was declared illegal, prompting Ashraf to institute an intra-court appeal that was transferred to the IHC and is still pending there.
After his term as ZTBL president expired on September 3, 2011, the Finance Division issued a notification on September 28, allowing him to continue to hold the post. His appointment, the petition alleged, was illegal and malafide and a result of his direct influence with the person at the helm of affairs. The petition accused Ashraf of being involved in corruption, committing irregularities and serious violations of law and indulging in favouritism and discrimination.
The petition said despite a ban imposed by the federal government on fresh recruitments from April 2008 to February 2009, Ashraf illegally employed 11 officials in the Kissan Support Services (Pvt) Ltd without any advertisement in the newspapers and open competition. The Auditor General of Pakistan also objected to the appointments for creating a liability of Rs 23.9 million. These officers were later reappointed in the bank with the same designations knowing well that two of them had been fined by the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan. Ashraf allegedly awarded Rs 100 million contract of designing and consultancy of ZTBL building in Abbottabad in violation of procurement rules and transparent process to a firm owned by his brother-in-law. Likewise, he got his Secretariat on the 12th floor of the building in Islamabad renovated bypassing procurement rules. He also allegedly awarded a contract for supply of fertilizer to a single company in violation of rules and created exclusive franchise/monopoly at public cost, the petition contends. He said as ZTBL president. Ashraf exposed the agriculture sector to immense losses and the growth level witnessed a slide resulting in decline in lending. The tractor loans scheme alone registered a negative trend by 93 percent, the petitioner contended.