Corruption and misuse of offices prevail in the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI), allegedly being run on the whims and wishes of single person and handful of his sycophants.
The country's Apex Body, FPCCI, is currently engulfed in massive corruption and misuse of office, government funds and irregularities, alleged by Engineer Daroo Khan Achakzai, Leader of the Business Community of Balochistan and Vice President, FPCCI during a press conference here at the Karachi Press Club on Tuesday.
He was accompanied by Mir Naveed Jan Baloch from the Gawadar Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Talking about the violation of rules in the FPCCI, he stated that a meeting of the Executive Committee of FPCCI was held on September, 17, 2012 at 3:00 pm at the FPCCI Head Office, Karachi as per Agenda which appears highly illegal.
Referring to the Agenda No 4 of the meeting regarding the Presentation by the Chairman, FPCCI Building Committee on the Progress of the FPCCI Capital Offices Construction Building, he said that "I had strongly opposed the issue in a meeting held on September 8, in Islamabad that members of only one community were present in the meeting and all of them were involved in fraudulent use of the funds granted by the Export development (EDF) for this building.
In this regard I have already expressed my reservations to Secretary General FPCCI vide my letter dated April 5, 2012 and to which the sitting incharge of FPCCI Capital Office Islamabad (Vice President has also expressed his reservations). My contention in the meeting was that there must be representation from all the communities of all the provinces which was not considered and therefore I was compelled to walk out from the meeting."
Pointing at another agenda of the recently held meeting regarding the discussion and approving the shifting of the FPCCI Regional Offices of Peshawar and Quetta to new premises, Daroo Khan claimed that it was on record that the President FPCCI, Mr FazalQadir Sherani had ordered the vacation of the present Quetta Office and taken a new Office at a rent of Rs 15, 000/- to Rs 20, 000/-.But despite several requests, the FPCCI Regional Office at Quetta had not received any amount from the fund.
"Moreover, it is indeed most shameless and disappointing that despite being Vice President of FPCCI, I do not have an office in Quetta nor at Karachi. I got an office at Karachi in the FPCCI premises for a couple of days but later on it was taken away and I, do not have any office presently", he added. Talking about the increase in the imprest fund for the FPCCI Regional Office Peshawar, he said, that it was most unfortunate that the Quetta Office had not received any fund from the FPCCI imprest fund.
Referring to another agenda of the meeting for considering and approving the Election Schedule of FPCCI for the year 2013 and appointment of three Members of the Election Commission, the Vice President said that in accordance with the Memorandum and Articles of Association of the FPCCI, as per Article-18 Election Schedule "The Election Schedule of the FPCCI shall be approved by the Executive Committee and issued by the Secretary General in the first half of October each year" while in gross violation of Memorandum and Articles of Association of FPCCI, this has been taken up in the month of September, 2012.
Talking about Agenda No 9, which talks about fixing the date of handing over the charge to the President, Office Bearers and Members of the Executive Committee of FPCCI, who will be elected for the term for the year 2013, he claimed that the agenda would be in violation of Article-19 (i) and (ii) under Terms of Office of the Memorandum and Articles of Association of FPCCI.
All the Genuine/ Licensed Chambers of Commerce & Industry of Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtoonkhwa boycotted the meeting for the genuine reasons explained below for which we owe them our thanks and gratitude: First and foremost, the President of FPCCI, Mr Fazal Kadir Sherani is neither in anyway connected to nor representative of the Chambers of Commerce and Industry of Balochistan and has been fraudulently elected President of FPCCI by the Province of Punjab and not Balochistan.
This fact has been already been highlighted in the Writ Petition CA.383/12, cma No 917, 1274, 1002, 946, 916/12 and High court C.P. No 903/11, filed in the Supreme Court of Pakistan by Nominees of the Chambers of Commerce & Industry of Balochistan. It is noteworthy that the Writ Petition is still pending in the Honourable Supreme Court of Pakistan.
In view of the above, we also have been highlighting the fact that the most respectable and premier Apex Body FPCCI has been running on the whims and fancies of Mr Tariq Sayeed and his sycophants. That just because of such autocratic activities and decisions, an able and qualified Secretary General, Mr Masood Alam Rizvi was compelled to resign from his job as he did not collude with such despotic Office Bearers and most important of all, a person no other than Mr Tariq Sayeed who is not an Office Bearer of FPCCI. Copy of resignation letter enclosed.
He also referred to the resignation letter of the outgoing secretary General of FPCCI, which says "Conditions were becoming very difficult for me to perform and carry out my duties / responsibilities according to dictates of my conscience and in a manner that I was mandated under the law. All the mentioned factors besides some others led to my resignation, decision of which was taken by me with a heavy heart and was certainly not on the spur of the moment. I do feel sad on leaving the FPCCI. Presently FPCCI's image as a professional organisation is already at a low ebb which is painful. The reason is that it is being run on the whims and wishes of a single person and a handful of his sycophants. I however sincerely believe that while Mr Tariq Sayeed is a big part of the FPCCI's problem, given his influence and experience he can be a big part of solutions to its problems and make FPCCI a truly professional body. As a first step he should refrain from interfering in the day to day running of the FPCCI, leave it to the President and the Secretariat and concentrate his attention on major economic and financial issues faced by the country as party leader."
Khan also appealed to the President and Prime Minister of Pakistan and the Chief Justice of Supreme Court to take serious notice and order an investigation into the massive corruption and misuse of office and funds as this Apex Body of the country FPCCI is being run on the wishes of a single person, completely destroying the economy of our beloved country Pakistan. He also demanded an enquiry and investigations in the matter, seizure of all bank accounts of the FPCCI as this involves the image of this august and Apex Chamber (FPCCI) of the country, which is being ruined and heading for disaster here in Pakistan and abroad. To a question, he said that for the last 14 years, the business community of Balochistan had been deprived of their rights in the country as the apex body has been ruled by a mafia.