The Privatisation Commission on Thursday declined to take Printing Corporation of Pakistan (PCP) for sell-off, saying liquidation for this debt-ridden entity would be the best option.
Its authorities told the PC Board, which met here with Privatisation minister, Zahid Hamid, in the chair that PCP's assets were much less than its liabilities and it would be next to possible to attract any buyer for this entity.
Sources said PCP was almost a sick unit as its liabilities and assets sheet showed a difference of Rs 5.5 billion. It took loans from different banks and DFIs but did not honour its commitment and as on June 2006 it owed Rs 5.5 billion more than its total assets.
PCP also owed millions of rupees to different organisations as it could not fulfill its commitments for printing orders placed by different government ministries/divisions and corporations although it got substantial portion of the money in advance.
PCP's history has been very shaky. At least one of its former chief and many other officials are facing corruption charges and the officials of the Privatisation Commission were of the view during the meeting that the entity's bad reputation could be a major problem in its sell-off through bidding.
However, on the insistence of the Cabinet Division the Privatisation Commission agreed to refer the PCP's case to the Cabinet Committee on Privatisation (CCoP) but its officials categorically told the Board that they will take the same position before the CCoP and suggest to de-list PCP and take other route to get rid of it.
It may be noted that PCP is a subordinate organisation of Cabinet Division and for the same reason it advocated its reference to CCoP during the Board meeting.
The Board also approved an offer of Rs 156 million for machinery of Lasbella Textile Mills and referred it to the CCoP. The Privatisation Commission had offered Lasbella Textile Mills' machinery for sale.
The sources said the Board could not take-up Pakistan Steel Mills Corporation (PSMC) case for the reason that exactly at the time when the meeting was in progress the minister and other officials had to rush to Parliament House to brief Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz and some other members of the ruling party on the future of the sale.
After a detailed presentation to the Prime Minister on PSMC transaction Privatisation Minister spoke to the mediamen. He defended the government, saying the Supreme Court did not mention corruption in its detailed judgement and only pointed out procedural flaws which would be looked into for the future transactions.
Comments
Comments are closed.