The Punjab government has reconstituted the Board of Directors of Punjab Board of Investment & Trade (PBIT) after taking notice of mismanagement and irregularities in the PBIT. According to the notification issued on February 13, 2017, by the Ministry of Industries, Commerce and Investment, the copy of which is available with Business Recorder, Chief Minister Punjab Shehbaz Sharif is the chairman of the Board and the Chairman Planning and Development, Secretary Industries, Secretary Finance and President Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry are ex-officio members while the Chief Executive Officer PBIT is the member PBIT Board of Directors.
The private members in the Board are Khawaja Ahmad Hassan, Arif Saeed, Ziad Bashir, Marek Minkiewicz, Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy, Seema Aziz, Atif Bajwa, Faisal Naqvi, Syed Yawar Ali, Kimihide Ando and Pir Saad Ahsanuddin. According to the sources, the CM Punjab will now directly look after the affairs of the PBIT which in the past faced many problems including gross mismanagement and irregularities.
It is pertinent to mention here that the PBIT is a premier trade and investment promotion agency of the Punjab which is responsible for attracting local and foreign investment in the province. The sources said that the CM will not tolerate anyone in the board at any level who has been allegedly involved in the corruption or the persons having fake degrees.
Few months back, former president Faisalabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry and former board member, Chaudhry Muhammad Nawaz, in his letter to the Punjab government had pointed out that appointment of former chairman PBIT Muzzafar Miraj Khawja was made in violation of Public Sector Companies (Corporate Governance) Rules 2013. Nawaz had also alleged that the former chairman spent PBIT funds on un-budgeted activities. "It is not in humble capacity of the chairman to avail facilities - huge travelling allowances, board/lodging etc - which tantamount to mismanagement/misappropriation of funds being utilised without the directions of BoD of PBIT," Nawaz claimed. In a letter, he had also alleged that in the board meeting members of the board had raised an objection against the amount spent by the former chairman PBIT during his visit to China in the last week of July 2016.
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