ISLAMABAD :. The case of looting and making Pakistan Steel Mills Corporation (PSMC) dysfunctional to help private sector steel industry establish its monoply has finally landed in the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of the parliament .
The PAC has taken up the case of damaging PSMC to its core by an organised mafia of Karachi steel industry and stock market and sought the relevant record from the ministry of Industries and Production to probe the allegations levelled against the management by People Workers Union (PWU). This mafia is using every tactics for over one decade to plunder financial resources of PSMC at will.
Since 2008 , PSMC is in the grip of this mafia . It looted PSMC through procurement , over charging for supplies of raw materials and buying of finished products at lower than market rates.
Since 2008, every federal government including Pakistan People Party (PPP) from 2008 to 2013, Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PMLN) rule from 2013 to 2018 and lastly Pakistan Tehreek e Insaf (PTI) government from mid 2018 to March 2022 preferred money making over revival of this key industrial unit of Pakistan.
The PTI rule proved the worst for PSMC. Its at least three federal ministers and advisors including Asad Umar , Razak Dawood and Ali Zaidi played a role to inject their croonies and plunder what ever PSMC was left with.
PTI , besides injecting non-professional team mostly having back ground of working with HUBCO and Engro where Asad Umar had worked prior to joining the politics , framed such policies which could cause loss to the state owned strategic asset of Pakistan.
PWU which is a registered representative of PSMC employees and has remained the collective bargaining agent (CBA) for consecutive more than two decades has taken up the case of PSMC to Public Accounts Committee (PAC?. It was PWU which challenged the privatization of PSMC in the Supreme Court of Pakistan in 2005-06, resultantly the sell off was declared as null and void . PWU has always played a vital role in defending the best interest of PSMC.
In its letter to PAC, PWU has demanded revival of PSMC and investigation against the board of directors (BOD) and management of (PSMC) for their criminal negligence and mega theft and worse performance that cost PSMC and the national exchequer more than Rs 284 billion from 2018 to April 2022.
PWU said in the letter addressed to PAC chairman , Noor Alarm Khan, that a nexus of PTI government and M/s Arif Habib Group ,which was also involved in PSMC non-transparent privatization plundered tPSMC , and finally ruined it in the last four- year rule of PTI. It added that the PTI government, its sponsored media and some individuals in bureaucracy have always blamed the failure of PSMC on its human resource. The blame was unjustified as the human resource was specifically trained and responsible, which always acted as per the order of management, however, the competent authority. chief executive officer (CEO) was responsible for the result as the decisions made by him lead to profit or loss.
PWU noted that the MOI&P has no interest in monitoring the performance of BOD and management of PSMC which cost more than Rs 284 billion only in the tenure of 44 months of PTI.
It said the MOI&P vide letter dated 4th December 2018, pressurized Mr. Memon by directing
him to endorse M/s HUBCO as consultant, but he instead briefed the Senate Standing Committee on MOI&P that bureaucracy was creating hurdles in PSMC revival. Thereafter in March 2019 he was removed as the Chairman BOD without assigning any reason and appointed an imported/dual national Chairman BOD ,Aamir Mumtaz ,a friend of Mr. Imran Khan, in violation violation of SECP rules & regulation.
PWU demanded
investigations in the case by the Federal Investigation Agency ( FIA) in finding the facts leading to PSMC losses and initiation of accountability process for financial recoveries from persons at fault? It added that it must also be investigated that who were the beneficiaries of discriminatory steel import tariff, DTRE and enjoying monopoly in steel market due to closure of PSMC in a period of 44 months?. It maintained that
PWU, being a stakeholders feels its responsibility to apprise the true facts related to PSMC persistent deteriorating affairs and the role of bureaucracy (in MOI&P/Privatization Commission/Ministry of Commerce/Ministry of Finance/Federal Board of Revenue) nexus in between private sector steel mafia involved in deliberate destruction of this national asset but remained unaccountable as yet.
PWU demanded that the government should reconstitute a knowledgeable BOD and professional management capable to motivate the workforce, restore the confidence of business community and attract the investors.