Punjab Chief Minister Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif Monday said that the Chairman NAB should ask his staff that they should not turn themselves into the cronies of Pakistan People's Party (PPP) and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI). "Don't make accountability a joke," he remarked.
"Strict and indiscriminate accountability is accepted to us but any vengeance, politics and jokes in the name of accountability are intolerable. I shall straight go home if corruption of even a single penny is proved against me. But on the other side, it is intolerable if the persons who have looted billions and trillions of rupees of the nation are not questioned and I am made a scapegoat on the basis of fudged data," he said, adding: "NAB notices are issued to me and I am insulted by repeated display of NAB notices on TV screens. If it is a crime to serve the people and save billions of rupees of the poor nation, then I will repeat it thousands of time," he said.
Addressing a news conference, Shahbaz said that first question of NAB team was regarding his order that he gave to Punjab Land Development Company that I have violated rules and regulations. He said he replied that under the Punjab government rules of business, the Chief Minister is authorized to summon the record of any matter/case pertaining to the Punjab government and can issue order/direction about it as well. He said the Punjab Land Development Company is one hundred percent owned by the Punjab government and therefore, it is the responsibility of the Punjab government to monitor its work and performance. Moreover, under a memorandum of association of the company act and corporate governance rules 2013, the companies' boards are duty-bound to follow the directions/policy given to them time to time by the government. He added that the review of performance of the company is not illegal, in any way, by the Punjab high officials. The Punjab government provides financial resources to all the public sector companies from its kitty and board of directors and CEOs of the companies are also appointed by the government.
Keeping this in view, he said, the government has the authority to ask these companies about their performance. The government has set up Punjab Land Development Company to introduce low-income housing schemes. He said that Ch. Latif and Sons Company was given infrastructure contract, ie, roads construction in Aashiyana-e-Iqbal adding that once he learnt about the delay, he directed to dispose of the matter on merit ensuring transparency and expediency. He said the contract was signed for constructing 1700 housing at the outset.
Bidders gave the rates of 1700, 1600 and 1000 rupees per square feet. He added the government fixed the rate of 900 rupees per square feet after negotiating with the lowest bidder. "I asked the NAB officials that what is your viewpoint about a saving of 1.5 billion government made through this way? I say it again and again that if it is a crime to save nation's money and stop corruption, then I will do it repeatedly and shall bring to an end the menace of corruption. They had no reply of this response," he added.
Shahbaz said that a relative of secretary to Musharraf was given 80 percent shares of precious natural resources of Chiniot without any tendering process in 2007 when Pervez Elahi and Pervez Musharraf were in power.
Comments
Comments are closed.