In a major development, the ministry of production on Friday referred two cases of corruption involving embezzlement of Rs480 million in the two attach departments of the ministry to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) for investigation. An official source said the cases were sent to NAB, after minister for production Anwar Ali Cheema was informed by secretary production Gul Muhammad Rind that an internal inquiry had failed to fix responsibilities on officials involved in the irregularities. Taking serious notice of the corrupt practices, the minister directed referring the two cases immediately to NAB for an impartial inquiry.
He said that corruption was a menace and show zero tolerance would be shown against it. No matter how influential the corrupt people were they would be brought to justice. According to details, the cases relate to Pakistan Industrial Development Corporation’s (PIDC) Gujranwala Tools, Dies and Moulds Centre (GTDMC) and Ceramics Development Training Centre(CDTC) which have recently been established at Gujranwala. The two companies were established under section 42 of the Companies Ordinance 1984 as subsidiaries of PIDC. The funding of these companies has been provided by the government, whereas the affairs of these companies are managed by the private sector. The GTDMC hired a ghost consultant for procurement of machines which caused an estimated loss of Rs480 million to the national exchequer. Interestingly, there was no provision of hiring a consultant in the project. However, GTDMC authorities hired a consultant without any bidding procedure. As expected, the consultant delivered nothing and received a hefty payment of Rs2.048 million. The procurement of machines including heat treatment plant caused a loss of Rs4.26 million, laser cutting machine Rs3.73 million, and VMC-2 machine Rs2.77 million. In total, misappropriations were of estimated Rs480 million.
