All army procuring agencies have been ordered strict implementation of Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA) Rules - 2004 by the Adjutant General, General Headquarters, Pakistan Army as notified by Ministry of Defence (MoD) on January 31, 2011.
Instructions in this connection have gone to: HQ 4 Corps, Housing Societies Cell, HQ 5 Corps, Defence Housing Authorities (DHA) Cell and administrators of DHAs Islamabad, Karachi and Lahore. MoD notification also warned that violation of PPRA Rules - 2004 will be viewed seriously and Head of Department/Organisation will be held responsible.
Ministry of Defence's notification said: "Deputy Director General (Defence Service Audit) has observed that Public Procurement Authority (PPRA) Rules - 2004 are not being observed in different entities of Ministry of Defence in letter and in spirit. This has been viewed with concern by the Principal Accounting Officer, ie Secretary Defence.
The Public Accounts Committee also made similar observations. It is reiterated that PPRA Rules must be observed in their true perspective in letter and in spirit while making procurements. Violation of those rules will be viewed seriously and Head of Department/Organisation will be held responsible for the same."
Obviously it was at the initiative and interest taken by Chief of Army Staff, General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani that the orders were issued by the Adjutant General, Pakistan Army. It was way back in April 2010 that the Chairman, Transparency International Pakistan (TIP), Syed Adil Gilani had in a letter sent to the Army Chief pointed out that Pakistan armed forces reputation "is at stake due to the action of a few army officers of DHA, HIT, FWO NLC and other army procuring agencies" as a result of violation of procurement rules.
Several letters had been written by TIP prior to this letter informing Army Chief about corruption incidents in armed forces procurement, especially in DHAs, Islamabad, Karachi and Lahore. Instead of taking these letters in a negative spirit, the Army Chief, Adjutant General's orders make it obvious, must have forwarded the observations of TIP to concerned officials for action. It now depends on officials to rise to the occasion and ensure corruption free procurement by following PPRA Rules - 2004. Army has thus set an example for civilian departments to match the wisdom dexterity in facing the monster of corruption.
Adil Gilani had mentioned several projects where PPRA Rules were not followed. For example a letter was sent to DHA Islamabad in March 2010 pointing to two blatant violations were committed. PPRA had also asked for clarification from DHA Islamabad on these violations.
TIP had mentioned following projects where PPRA Rules were violated. Habib Rafiq (PvT) Ltd, Elyslum Holdings Pakistan Ltd, Multinational Venture Developers (MVD), Al-Ghurair Giga Pakistan (Pvt) Ltd, Emaar Properties PJSC, Maxcorp Properties (Pvt) Ltd, International Spectrum Development Inc (ISDI), Meinhardt (Pakistan) Pvt, Ltd, Western Capital Development L.L.C.,Has Associates (Pvt) & International Hospital Group, UK.
In his letter to Army Chief, Adil Gilani had pointed out that corruption is a cancer, and corruption by armed forces officers endangers the very existence of the country. This may result in the procurement of sub standard arms due to conflict of interest, and for personal gains over the national cause by a few individuals. Indian armed forces are also not free from this cancer but there actions are taken against such elements.
"TIP expects from you a definite change in procurement culture of armed forces which according to the law of the land shall only be based on the PPRA Rules - 2004, as no one is above law, and DHA Ordinance 2007 makes it mandatory on DHA Islamabad to observe these rules."
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