56 companies scandal: AGP report reveals glaring irregularities

–In the Lahore Knowledge Park Company, simple BA degree holder was with a salary of Rs 900,000

LAHORE: A report compiled by the Auditor General of Pakistan (AGP) vis-à-vis 56 companies scandal has exposed glaring irregularities in the public-sector companies which were not bound for audit till the Supreme Court took suo motu notice and the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) swung into action against the so-called Rs80 million mega-corruption scandal.

According to the AGP report, the Lahore Knowledge Park Company invited application for the hiring of the Chief Commercial Officer through a newspaper advertisement. The post required a graduate in MBA (Marketing) with 10 year experience. However, simple BA degree holder Mehwish Rafi was hired with a salary of Rs 900,000 while under-matric Manzoor Ali was hired at grade-2 as a land site supervisor in Rs 65,000 salary in 2016.

The Lahore knowledge Park Company also hired FA degree holder Deputy Manager Procurement Mukhtar Ahmed Joya in Rs 150,000 salary while Master and MPhil degree holders were ignored. Simple BCS graduate General Manager (Information Technology) Yasir Fareed was hired with a salary of Rs 550,000. Interestingly, the company had no section of information technology.

According to the AGP report, Farid Iqbal, having no experience, was hired as human resource (HR) manager in Rs 7,00,000 salary. Besides, a luxury 13,00CC car was offered to him in addition to other benefits. The company later came to know that he had no experience in HR and this responsibility was given to another person. However, Iqbal had withdrawn Rs 10.4 million till that time.

Similarly, Higher Education Additional Secretary Shahid Zaman Mehmand was hired as Chief Operating Officer (COO) for one year in Rs 800,000 salary which included Rs 240,000 house rent. The AGP report said that Shahid Zaman lived in official residence and illegally got Rs 40,0000.

The NAB has started a fresh probe into 56 companies scandal and has obtained the record of 30 more companies. The companies had used funds worth billions of rupees without any approval or audit.

These companies include Lahore Knowledge Park, Punjab Power Development, Quaid-e-Azam Solar Park, Quaid-e-Azam Thermal Power Company and waste management companies of Lahore, Bahawalpur, Gujranwala, among others.

The bureau has summoned former Punjab chief minister and PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif and he has recorded his statement in this regard.

It was earlier learnt that the Punjab government was trying to dodge the NAB by submitting the record of non-operational, non-existent and on-papers-only companies in the guise of 56 companies.

The Punjab government submitted the record of only 39 companies to NAB, which too included initial record only like agreements. The Punjab government has set up more than 70 companies to bring good governance in the province, out of which some were non-existent and others were non-operational.

Following the orders of Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Mian Saqib Nisar, the Punjab government is bound to submit the record of 56 companies for the alleged corruption to the tune of Rs80 billion. The government has apparently assured the top court that it will provide the record of all companies to NAB as, according to it, there was no corruption in these companies and everything was crystal clear there through a self-accountability mechanism and internal audit.