National Fertiliser Marketing Limited (NFML) on Monday revealed that imported urea of Rs 1.6 billion has been stolen from its godowns in connivance with "deputationists" in 2013 and 2014 and corruption cases are being investigated by National Accountability Bureau (NAB) and Federal Investigation Agency (FIA). General Manager NFML, Qudrat Ullah gave a detailed presentation to the National Assembly Standing Committee on Industries and Production (MoIP) headed by Asad Umar. Ironically, one deputationist from NFML Mudassar Waheed Malik was also present in the meeting.
NFML has transported or handled approximately 7.5 million tons of imported urea till-date. During the operations, various issues of misappropriation/shortage of urea were detected which were forwarded to NAB/ FIA for investigation, legal action and recovery of government dues. According to GM, NFML stock misappropriated by transporters/ contractors was 38,398.00 MT of urea, whereas shortage of stocks at stores was 5,367.45 MT, totalling 43,761.45 MT of urea.
Cases with NAB are as follows: (i) Cartage Contractors' issue- misappropriation of urea stocks; (ii) M/s Trans Global (Cartage Contractor)- bogus acknowledgement of 831 MT urea; (iii) January 16, 2014- unauthorised booking of urea; (iv) Shahmeer Tally, labour & security service contractor- misappropriation of urea stock; (v) M/s Sindh Goods- shortage of stock at Kohinor & Rashid godowns, Karachi; (vi) NFML Temporary Store, Quetta- shortage of urea stock; and (vii) Uzair Abu Bakar, ex-Deputy General Manager - misappropriation/ irregularities and misuse of authorities.
Replying to a question, GM. NFML said that one of the General Managers who was involved in urea scam is behind bars. Chairman Standing Committee termed the urea "missing" scam as corruption which cannot be done without support from the Ministry. He inquired if there was any reference to Minister for Industries and Production Ghulam Murtaza Jatoi in these allegations to which the NFML General Manager replied in the negative. He further inquired if any reference has been filed against those who made billions of rupees in 2009-10. General Manager, NFML replied that this issue is being dealt with by the FIA. Asad Umar informed the committee that in 2009-10, one Federal Minister and his son made billions and urged NFML to get details of their accounts.
Officials of Heavy Electrical Complex (HEC) informed the committee that the entity's privatisation has been delayed due to which customers are not showing any interest in procurement of equipment. HEC manufactures new transformer by using reverse engineering which has increased the efficiency of transformers. However, a lack of regular orders from the Discos is a serious concern. He said, HEC has developed GSM-based real time data monitoring device to monitor losses but Discos are not interested in its procurement. To this, Asad Umar said that they are not buying it because it stops corruption. One of the officials revealed that HEC has earned substantial capital by taking orders from its key competitor.
According to an official statement, standing committee discussed the ongoing policies, projects and future plans of HEC. During the meeting, presentation was given to the Standing Committee by the MD NFML on details of inquiries/cases pending in NAB/FIA and departmental inquiries/reports along with the current status of the NFML. The Committee further discussed the proposed plan of Pakistan Machine Tools Factory's (PMTF) management for turning around its performance. Members who attended the meeting included Isphanyar M. Bhandara, MNA, Syed Imran Ahmad Shah, MNA, Sajida Begum, MNA, Maulana Muhammad Gohar Shah, MNA and Iftikhar-ud-Din, MNA.
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