Costly leakages in different forms from the national exchequer have been a permanent phenomenon in the resource-constrained country where corruption is deep-rooted and authorities are either unable to or lack the will to check irregularities. In most cases, government officials are found accomplices in the anomalies.
Oil theft is one such a drain on the exchequer at the country’s highly sensitive oil installations in Keamari where haulers, in connivance with some unscrupulous officials in the Pakistan State Oil (PSO), steal the state’s imported fuel worth billions of rupees at their convenience. The All Pakistan Oil Tanker Owners Association (APOTOA), however, denies the charges as baseless, saying short–route and not long-route transporters may be involved in the theft. According to well-placed sources, in a recent probe the government investigators unearthed revealing facts about the theft of PSO oil at the hands of transporters at Keamari oil installations. “After extensive investigations, we found an organised mafia stealing the government oil with the help of their top-level accomplices in the PSO,” an investigator told Pakistan Today.
The investigators found that more rampant was the theft of the fuel destined for government entities like the National Bank of Pakistan, capital city police, armed forces, Baldia offices and private firms like the Karachi Electric Supply Company.
The probe revealed that each of over 300 oil tankers had stolen approximately 1,000 liters of fuel from only one government department thus inflicting an estimated loss of over Rs 21 million upon it.
“A rough estimate shows that about 0.32 million liters of fuel was stolen by the PSO contractors during 2009-2010,” the officer said, adding that the theft was being carried out in such a highly systematic way that it was almost impossible to check.
The investigator said the transporters were using “innovative techniques” ranging from the development of extension boxes inside the fuel tanker to the replacement of transportable oil with the smuggled, thus cheaper, Iranian oil on their way to destination. “Metal-welded portions are created inside the vehicles’ tanks to let the gauge go deep inside thus giving a false sounding of the fuel quantity,” he said, adding, “A six-inch extension box saves enough oil for the thieves”. Another method used is the placement of an extra hidden pipe in the secret compartments of oil tank. “A pipe is vertically placed inside the vehicle’s sounding pipe. This pipe is deliberately kept punctured, unnoticeably, to show a false sounding,” the investigator explained.
Thirdly, the haulers sell out the fuel destined for the upcountry somewhere on the way and refill Iranian oil which is cheaper for its smuggled character.
Also, in their theft the transporters are facilitated by fillers, gatekeepers, accountants, delivery checkers and special contractors, who provide parking at Shreen Jinnah colony for the unscrupulous drivers of oil tankers for accomplishing the theft. “The gatekeepers get a 500-rupee bhatta (extortion) for their help.” “From a filler (of oil) to a receiver everyone, in one way or the other, is involved,” said the investigator.
Even the police are no exception. Ask a commoner in the port neighbourhood, Keamari, and he would tell you how and when the Jackson police could be spotted, almost daily in the wee hours, with handy oil-filled gallons. They steal this oil from the “leaked” pipelines laid by oil companies to through the imported fuel from KPT Oil Piers to their respective storages. The area people told Pakistan Today that even the SHOs at Jackson police station are deputed and removed per the level of their “cooperation” in facilitating the higher ups to pocket the oil-theft-related briberies.
TLA 066 is the registration number of a Sibi- (Balochistan) based oil tanker which presently is parked, with its tyres flat, in front of Jackson police station and is believed to have led to the ouster of SHO Zulfiqar Summo, an officer who had drawn unprecedented admiration from the area people for his bold and effective action against criminals, particularly drug peddlers. Asked about the alleged irregularities, a transporter told Pakistan Today that the haulers were compelled to indulge in unlawful acts due to the ever-increasing maintenance costs of their vehicles that among other expenditures included large sums on account of extortions to the police. “The maintenance cost is huge to be borne through legal income,” said the hauler. Denying the involvement of long-route transporters in the theft, Mir Mohammad Yusuf Shahwani, APOTOA chairman, confirmed that the inter-city haulers were stealing and selling the government’s oil in connivance with their partners in the PSO. “Half of the black money goes to the PSO officers without whose help the theft is impossible,” said the transporter, whose association owns 32,000 oil tankers.
Citing the expensive commodity’s transportation in “bulk” as one of major reasons for oil theft, the investigators suggest the government do away with the bulk transportation of the fuel. They believe the PSO must increase its transportation charges to a justified level that could rid the transporters of their financial woes pertaining to maintenance cost.
A regular inspection of the oil tankers would also work to check covert “physical arrangements” therein, said the officer. Oil import bill constitutes a major portion of the cash-strapped government’s annual import liabilities worth billions of dollars while Islamabad was facing a current account deficit of over $3 billion during July-AprilFY12. Given the current pressure on the balance of payments front, the government must take immediate remedial measure to stop check drains on the exchequer.