Feb 20 , 2016
News
Senate refers HEC privatisation case to NAB
KARACHI: Senate Standing Committee on Finance, Revenue and Privatisation on Friday recommended the case of privatisation of Heavy Electrical Complex (HEC) to NAB and FIA.
Committee Chairman Saleem Mandviwalla said that HEC’s privatisation case is proof of the “total failure” of Privatisation Commission. He said Privatisation Commission had committed wilful and criminal negligence through a lacklustre and sloppy approach towards the privatisation process, “as was evident” in the transaction committee and Privatisation Commission meetings on the selection of the bidder for the HEC. The Privatisation Commission dealt with the HEC transaction in a highly unprofessional, callous and reckless way, Mandviwalla claimed.
He said it is strongly recommended that the matter be referred to NAB or FIA for investigation to determine whether the chairman/secretary, the top management and the consultants were involved in corruption and embezzlement. The subcommittee on Senate Finance Committee held hearings in order to determine the reasons that led to the failed attempt to privatise HEC Complex. The committee found that the transaction committee, despite knowing the fact that Cargill Holding was incorporated on December 10, 2014 with no prior background in relevant industry, approved them as a qualified bidder without conducting due diligence.
The committee chairman and the secretary could not discover the fact that the company was fake, and this is of concern to the Senate Finance Committee. The committee recommended that the Senate Finance Committee needs to be formally engaged once the government decides to privatise any entity. The committee should decide whether it is in the public interest to privatise a particular entity or not, and if they are profit-making then the government must abstain from privatising such entities and must not deliberately create conditions which turn any profit-making entity into a loss to create justification for privatisation.
The committee concluded that Privatisation Commission is responsible for wilful and criminal negligence in the privatisation of HEC. It said the secretary and the top management of the Privatisation Commission were evasive and dodgy throughout the hearings and were knowingly letting the deal take place even after getting the idea that the bidder was bogus and fake.
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk