News
Thursday, August 11, 2011
PAC orders probe into sale of chancery building in Indonesia* Committee directs Ministry of Foreign Affairs to fix responsibility within six weeks
By Ijaz Kakakhel
ISLAMABAD: The Public Accounts Committee on Wednesday directed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to probe the sale of Chancery Building in Indonesia.
The committee was informed that in 2002, former Ambassador of Pakistan to Indonesia General (r) Anwar Mustafa sold the Chancery Building of Pakistan in Indonesia. The sale of the building was done in an irregular manner, without any advertisement and with losses being credited to the exchequer. The committee was informed that the ambassador was fully involved in the transaction. This irregularity was pointed out by the late deputy head of chancery Syed Mushtaq Haider Rizvi, who was later recalled from his post and made an OSD from 2002 till his retirement in 2008. The Foreign Office secretary requested that an inquiry be held. The PAC directed that the findings be presented within a week.
The PAC found that Pervez Musharraf had created an inquiry committee comprising of then cabinet secretary Javed Masued as chairman, and joint secretary Mohsin Hafeez and joint secretary Raja Raza Arshad, which did not impose a penalty on the persons responsible for this, but recommended its ex-post-facto approval from the concerned authorities.
The committee was informed that the property was disposed off in a non-transparent manner, without any advertisement in the press to allow for competitive biddings, with even the ambassador entering into a binding sale agreement with the buyer without the approval of the ministry. The committee took note that approval for the signing of the sale agreement was not obtained from the finance secretary general.
The spouse of the late Syed Mushtaq Haider Rizvi addressed the committee and said that her husband had undergone mental torture for eight years by being made an OSD. She blamed the former ambassador to Indonesia and three members of the inquiry committee for the untimely death of Rizvi. “My son was not ready to return to Pakistan due to the injustice done with his father”, she added. She demanded justice from the PAC and even asked the Supreme Court to take suo motu action against the killing of her husband at the hands of General (r) Anwar Mustafa and the three members of the inquiry committee formed by General Pervez Musharraf.
Audit officials were of the view that the former ambassador had committed gross irregularities during the sale of the chancery building in Jakarta, which were later on condoned by the Secretariat chief executive. PAC Chairman Ayaz Sadiq directed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to send a letter of apology to the Rizvi family.
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk