The National Assembly standing committee on privatisation on Wednesday decided to re-open the controversial privatisation transactions carried out by previous regime, and summoned former premier Shaukat Aziz to appear before it and explain the motives for making the desperate bid to sell out Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM) at throwaway price.
The committee, which met here in the parliament house with Wassan Ali in the chair decided to reopen the privatisation cases of Pakistan Steel Mills, Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL), Karachi Electric Supply Corporation (KESC), Habib Bank Limited (HBL) and United Bank Limited (UBL) as there were many questions regarding transparency. The committee expressed serious concerns over the privatisation of national entities by previous government of Shaukat Aziz.
The chair directed the Privatisation Commission (PC) to serve notices to both former premier Shaukat Aziz and ex PSM chairman to appear before the committee on September 14 and explain the reasons behind privatising steel mills, which could have cost heavily to the country, had the Supreme Court not reversed the entire process.
Doniya Aziz, who was Parliamentary Secretary in Shaukat Aziz government, said they were not taken on board on the issue of PSM privatisation. It was Aziz''s sole decision to privatise the PSM. She said no cabinet member had been forced to defend the PSM deal by the then Prime Minister who ''directed'' ministers to make speeches for the purpose.
Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Assef Ahmed Ali said the previous regime was involved in a number of controversial proceedings, which should be probed so the governments in future do not dare to play with the national assets.
"Being a government functionary; I would welcome if this committee decides to reopen all the privatisation proceedings and unearth the facts," he said. He said that NA body should also look into the huge losses of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), Pakistan Railway and Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) because 60 percent current account budget was consumed by these three organisations.
He said there was a strong need to conduct independent private audit of Pakistan Railways to ascertain the value of its property. Privatisation Commission Secretary Ahmed Jawad informed the committee members that special audit of PTCL, HBL, KESC and UBL was already being carried out and soon the audit reports would be presented before the Public Accounts Committee (PAC). Earlier, he briefed the standing committee that Privatisation Commission was anticipating $243.724 million through privatisation proceeds.
Out of 23 expected transactions, the government is estimating to earn $100 million through privatisation of Kot Addu Power Company Limited alone. The committee members grilled Privatisation Commission Secretary and his team for not providing desired details on the issues during the meeting and expressed dissatisfaction over the briefing.