Transparency International Pakistan (TIP) advisor Syed Adil Gilani has brought the irregularities committed in the appointment of Ismail Naveed as CEO GENCO to the attention of Minister for Water and Power Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar terming it “illegal” and “without following the due process”. Gilani, in his letter, asked the minister to cancel the appointment of Mr Ismail and to find a suitable person for the post following government rules and due process.
The TIP letter referred to media reports stating that Ismail Naveed had been appointed without the publishing of a requisite advertisement in the newspapers for the appointment of a suitable candidate for the post. The news item claimed that Ismail had been given three most crucial portfolios including Managing Directorship (MD) of the NTDC, Pakistan Electric Power Company (PEPCO), and CEO of Genco Holding Company. “It is also reported that Mr Naveed demanded Rs 4 million as salary, which was refused by the board. He then reduced it to Rs 2.5 million which again was not agreed by the board. The Human Resource Department of the Company, after due directions from the PM’s Secretariat, then proposed a Rs 1.9 million per month package. His appointment letter has been issued in haste. This could be gauged from the fact that even salary, perks and privileges of the appointee were left for a later stage of negotiations – which is highly irregular and will cause problems later on,” said the TIP.
Gilani said that when Mr Ahmed Mukhtar was asked by the media why a person who had failed to deliver in KESC had been hired on such a hefty salary package, he offered no plausible answer. He, however, said that Ismail had worked in many other countries on different power generation technologies. “Mukhtar also claimed that he introduced Ismail to Naveed Qamar who appointed him as CEO GENCO. Prime Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, as Minister for Water and Power, had also criticised Ismail Naveed for his failure to run KESC as per the terms and conditions agreed upon at the time of privatisation,” said the TIP.
The TIP also referred to another news report published in year 2009 that stated that Mr Naveed Ismail had been appointed as the CEO of KESC at a whopping salary of Rs 4.2 million. He was also the CEO at the time when KESC signed an agreement with the government of Pakistan (GoP), in which he obtained substantial benefits for KESC ( reported to be Rs 55 billion per annum) illegally, by signing an Amendment Agreement on 13 April 2009. “The other party to sign this illegal amendment agreement was Mr Shahid Rafi, who was the then Director of KESC as well, and signed off on the agreement as Secretary Ministry of Water & Power, something which he was not authorised to do,” the letter added. Mr Ismail resigned as CEO from the KESC in October 2009 (but remained a director in Abraj Group and KESC) and has been trying to get a GoP job since then. Adil Gilani said that there was a conflict of interest by appointing a person who will have sympathies for the group and organisation for which he has worked, and his loyalties may be divided between the GoP and Abraj Group.
