Sept 04 , 2015
News
PM’s Inspection Commission :Reference filed in NAB against appointment of consultant
By Zeeshan Ghayur
ISLAMABAD: A reference has been filed with National Accountability Bureau (NAB) against former chairman of Transparency International Pakistan (TI-P) Adil Gilani against his expected appointment as a consultant to Prime Minister’s Inspection Commission (PM-IC). According to reports, Far East Oriental Trading Company (FEOTC) Chief Executive Abdul Waheed has alleged that appointing the former TI-P chairman “in any capacity” will be detrimental to transparency in the commission. The petitioner states that TI-P has a “secret motive” which is contradictory to the set Transparency International’s standards. Waheed claims that recently Transparency International Germany interfered and exerted pressure after which Gilani resigned as TI-P chairman.
Waheed says Gilani remained an “unchallengeable” man at TI-P for several years, however, he was reappointed at TI-P, and this time as an “adviser”. He added that Gilani has since then maintained his “authoritarian legacy”. Interestingly, the FEOTC chief executive says that TI-P is a non-government organisation (NGO) set up by Gilani himself and as its self-proclaimed chairman he blackmailed top government officials and ran aggressive propaganda campaigns against them. Waheed alleged that Gilani would offer a “clean chit” to the government departments only if they signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU). This MOU meant that he would be made a “veto power” on part of every “process of collection and confirmation of the tenders” for all government projects carried out by the department. Waheed claims that Gilani was involved in “massive frauds”, including the “awarding of the construction contract for the FTC building at Shahrah-e-Faisal, Karachi”. He said that Gilani was at the time working for Karachi Development Authority (KDA). Waheed claims that later when the investigation was nearing close, “Gilani escaped to Africa where he remained till dust settled in Pakistan”. Returning to Pakistan, Waheed claims that Gilani joined Karachi Port Trust (KPT) as project manager where he was tasked with privatising a project that is today known as Pakistan International Container Terminal (PICT). Waheed said that armed with in-depth knowledge Gilani struck a “corrupt” deal with the highest bidding enterprise run by Captain Haleem Siddiqui, causing losses to the KPT.
Gathering information of private investors who submitted tenders at KPT, Gilani later joined the Marine Group as a paid consultant. He was tasked with assisting the Marine Group in their projects with KPT. Waheed said that Gilani’s influence is apparent from the fact that he got his son appointed as a “board member” of Pakistan National Shipping Corporation (PNSC) after blackmailing Ports and Shipping Secretary Saleem Khan. The issue on which Khan got blackmailed pertained to “Port Qasim”. Sohrab Adil Gilani, his son, quietly tendered his resignation after hue and cry by the media.
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk