Subsidy worth Rs29 billion given to sugar industry in five years, reveals Akbar

• Inquiry commission report held the regulator responsible and guilty of not checking the wrong doings in export of sugar: Akbar.
• SAPM says a subsidy of Rs26.6 billion was granted by PML-N govt while former PM Shahid Khaqan had given a subsidy of Rs20 billion on the instructions of Salman Shahbaz.
• The Sindh government granted a subsidy of Rs4.12 billion to Omni Group which was the biggest beneficiary, says Shehzad.

(Karachi) Special Assistant to Prime Minister for Accountability Shahzad Akbar has said that a subsidy of Rs29 billion was given to sugar industry in last five years.

Addressing a press conference on Sugar Inquiry Commission Report in Islamabad on Wednesday, he said the inquiry commission report held the regulator responsible and guilty of not checking the wrong doings in export of sugar and granting subsidy without calculating cost of production and due efforts.

Akbar pointed out that during the tenure of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz government, a subsidy of Rs26.6 billion was granted while the former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, alone, had given a subsidy of Rs20 billion on the instructions of Salman Shahbaz.

In addition, he revealed that the Sindh government granted a subsidy of Rs4.12 billion to Omni Group which was the biggest beneficiary.

The SAPM highlighted that all those who had been held responsible in sugar scandal by the inquiry committee will be punished without discrimination.

Earlier, on the orders of Prime Minister Imran Khan, the government made the Sugar Inquiry Commission report public. The report held Omni Group, Murad Ali Shah, Moonis Elahi, Jahangir Tareen, Salman Shehbaz and others responsible for their involvement in the sugar scam.

The report transpired that farmers faced losses at the hands of businessmen and middleman. It stated that farmers were not given their due share while sugar was sold at higher rates.

The findings revealed that certain sugar mills used informal receipts. The mill owners also showed the price of production to be more than the support price which meant that farmers earned less, the report maintained.

The report stated that sugar mill owners carried out informal banking, which is an unregulated procedure and resulting in losses to the farmers. The inquiry commission report also revealed that sugar mill owners are also involved in accounting fraud.