The National Assembly's Standing Committee on Information Technology and Telecommunication on Thursday flayed Federal Finance Minister Abdul Hafeez Sheikh for his repeated absence from the committee's meeting, as he has to brief the committee on the alleged irregularities in privatisation of Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) sold out to a UAE-based Company, Etisalat.
The committee, which met with Mohammad Barjees Tahir in the chair at the Parliament House, vowed to proceed unilaterally in case Abdul Hafeez Sheikh, who was the then Minister for Privatisation, failed to appear before the committee to brief it on the privatisation process.
The committee observed that huge irregularities had been reported in the PTCL privatisation deal with Etisalat and the then Minister for Privatisation was directly involved in the process. Chairman of the Committee said that he had met Speaker National Assembly on the issue and also conveyed the reservations of the members about the reluctance of Abdul Hafeez Sheikh to brief the committee on alleged irregularities in the privatisation process.
The committee also expressed concern over the denial of the PTCL management to give 15 percent increase in pensions to its 39,000 pensioners, as per the current year budget increase, as Secretary Ministry of IT informed the committee that the implementation on the increase could not be made as the management of the PTCL did not allow the same.
The committee members were surprised to know that Etisalat was enjoying 100 percent managerial control over the PTCL with five members on its board of directors while the government has four representatives despite the fact that it owns 67 percent PTCL shares.
Committee member Anusha Rehman said that PTCL employees have submitted an application in the Supreme Court on denial of increase in pensions and requested the apex court to take suo moto notice.
She said that the deal between PTCL and Etisalat could be nullified as the later had stopped payment of agreed instalment on account of non transfer of properties and assets which was against the rules. She further said that PTCL profit has gone down six-fold after privatisation.
Committee member Khawaja Sheraz Mehmood, who was the first mover of the PTCL privatisation saga, talking to Business Recorder, described the privatisation process like a 'real estate deal' rather technical contract under which the government has given the state owned enterprise to a company to improve its performance. But, he added, under Etisalat its performance has deteriorated, which is evident from decrease in profits. He explained that the net profit of the PTCL was over Rs 30 billion in 2005 but its last year's net profit has gone down to nearly Rs 5 to 6 billion.
He further said that the Etisalat has yet to pay $900 million, but it is reluctant despite the country's urgent economy needs. The committee member said that the former Minister for Privatisation must appear before the committee to brief it otherwise, the committee reserves its rights to issue his arrest warrants, but it would be unfortunate to go for such an extreme step against a sitting minister.
The committee also expressed dissatisfaction over the 10-year performance of the ministry of IT for not achieving its targets. Anusha Rehman said that the ministry even could not develop IT sector up to 10 percent of Indian IT city Bangalore. She said that the country's population comprised 25 million youth of which 57 percent are unemployed that include 25 percent IT professionals.
The committee also expressed dissatisfaction over the affairs of the Telecom Foundation as well as Pakistan Telecommunication Employees Trust (PTET) and asked the PTET to submit a copy of the rules under which scholarships were being given to the children of PTCL employees in two days.
The committee also directed the IT ministry to conduct an inquiry and submit report within one month about those who had got jobs in the ministry and its attached department on fake degrees along with list of former National Accountability Bureau (NAB) employees hired by its departments. The committee also asked the Telecom Foundation to conduct inquiry and submit report to the committee regarding a general manager who is employee of the foundation and also doing job in another department.