- AGP prohibited from making disclosures during PAC meeting
- Law maker tells AGP, such discussion will create bad air
Members of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), during a meeting, stopped Auditor General of Pakistan (AGP) Buland Akhtar Rana from making disclosures about direct involvement of former federal minister for Privatisation Senator Waqar Ahmed Khan in an Rs 500 million scam.
According to reports, in this way the lawmakers from the PML-N, PPP, PTI and all other major parties in the committee, formed in the name of accountability, once again saved their politician colleague from accountability.
Main accused in the scam, Senator Waqar Ahmed Khan, who is son of ex-senator Gulzar Ahmed Khan, who was very close to ex-prime minister Benazir Bhutto and is famous for his LPG business.
Senator Waqar was in the news recently over a case regarding his house in London which was valued at 30 million pounds. He remained a federal minister during the prime ministerships of Raja Pervaiz Ashraf and Yusuf Raza Gilani and at a point, was trying to get the portfolio of the petroleum ministry.
On Tuesday, during a meeting of the PAC, Privatisation Commission Secretary Amjid Ali Khan was giving a briefing when the AGP stated that the affairs of the commission were not as transparent as they appeared to be. He said recently, the Privatisation Commission had withdrawn Rs 500 million from a government bank and deposited it in a trust bank. This trust bank had also paid advance cheques to the Privatisation Commission. However, these cheques could not be cashed meaning the amount (Rs 500 million) went down the drain. In this way, this hefty amount, which was collected in the name of privatisation was embezzled by the trust bank higher-ups.
Privatisation Commission Secretary Amjid Ali Khan admitted that this was a wrong investment in which the commission lost Rs 500 million. When the AGP was inhaled to make further revelations, he was interrupted by the PML-N lawmaker Rohail Ashghar, who said “such kind of discussion will create bad air in the room”. Hence the issue was buried then and there and the Rs 500 million scandal could not be discussed in a committee ruled by the politicians.
The meeting of the PAC was also attended by its chairman Khursheed Shah, Azra Afzal, Ashiq Gopang, Abdul Mannan, Junaid Anwar Chaudhry, Shafqat Mehmood and others.
No other member of the PAC objected to the shunning of the AGP by Rohail Ashgar.
A recent report in the Senate revealed that Senator Waqar had given Rs 500 million to the trust bank of a personal friend in the name of investment when he was the head of the Privatisation Commission. This transaction was made in violation of the rules. After some time that bank went bankrupt and its owners went underground. The Privatisation Commission had approached the NAB and FIA over the issue. This complaint was lodged in 2012 and the investigation proved allegations against Senator Waqar, other members of the Privatisation Commission and officials of the trust bank. However, no action could be taken against the accused despite passage of two years.
Now, the PAC has also brushed the issued under the carpet to save the skin of those involved in the scam.
