Senate Standing Committee on Industries and Production has summoned three former chairmen of Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM) to explain their respective positions with regards to the colossal loss of Rs 22 billion it has suffered during the last one year. The decision was taken in a meeting of the committee, which met here at the Parliament House on Friday under the chairmanship of Senator Muhammad Ishaq Dar to discuss the recent financial losses to PSM.
The Committee expressed serious reservations on managing the precious national asset in a very unprofessional manner particularly non-professional handling of matters relating to its finance & accounts. It took serious exception to practice of borrowing money from employees fund ie gratuity and provident fund to temporarily cover the losses and termed it as illegal and unethical.
The committee wondered over the non-inclusion of exit clause in the agreements for raw material purchase contracts due to which its losses multiplied manifold. It instructed the Ministry to furnish Letter of Representation from the auditors and also asked for copies of contract pertaining to supply of raw materials.
The meeting expressed its dissatisfaction over the presentation made by Pakistan Steel, which, it said left, many significant questions unanswered. Some Senators apprehended non-existence of check and balance in the organisation fearing the previous management might have been under pressure to sell steel to some particular party "even below the production cost."
The Committee also asked for providing party-wise sales' record of the last three years. Earlier, senior officials of Pakistan Steel Mills attributed the huge losses to global economic recession during 2008-09, which badly affected the demand of steel both in developed and developing countries including Pakistan and de-stocking of surplus steel in the international markets.
It flooded the Pakistani markets with cheap and inferior steel products, which yielded a serious negative impact on the PSM products' sale. They said that they did not advise closing down of the Mills because it would have meant starvation to nearly 17,000 families of the workers.
The meeting was attended by senators Adnan Khan, Gul Muhammad Lot, Ahmed Ali, Abdul Haseeb Khan, Ilyas Ahmed Bilour, Mir Hasil Khan Bizenjo, Mrs Semeen Siddiqui and Haroon Khan besides Minister for Industries & Productions, Mian Manzoor Ahmed Wattoo, Secretary Industries and senior officials of the ministry and PSM.