Gilani suspends PTA finance boss for causing Rs7.6 bn loss
Abdul Sattar Khan
LAHORE: Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani has suspended the Member (Finance) Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) Syed Nasrul Karim (SNK) Ghaznavi allegedly for causing losses of Rs7.609 billion to PTA and government of Pakistan by allegedly extending undue favours to various companies.
Under the instructions of Prime Minister Gilani, the Chairman PTA Dr Mohammad Yaseen had submitted a report few months back on the performance of Member (Finance) SNK Ghaznavi with the recommendations of suspending Ghaznavi till the completion of an inquiry to be conducted by Federal Public Service Commission (FPSC) allegedly for committing gross negligence and misconduct.
Agreeing with the recommendations appearing on this performance report, Prime Minister Secretariat has asked the Cabinet Division and PTA authorities to send the case of Member (Finance) for an inquiry by Chairman Federal Public Service Commission (FPSC) and further that he may be suspended till completion of inquiry so that he may not influence the same. Following which an office order was issued on 29th April by the Cabinet Division conveying the same orders of Prime Minister Secretariat to Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) which has issued suspension orders of Member (Finance) PTA Syed Nasrul Karim Ghaznavi on the same day i.e. 29th April.
The News has already published a report on 14th March based on the same performance report which was submitted to Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani and which has now became primary cause of Member (Finance) PTA suspension.
As per detail of report discussing the performance of Member (Finance) SNK Ghaznavi, PTA and government of Pakistan have allegedly suffered a loss of Rs5.55 billion due to failure in recovery of revenue from Wireless Local Loop (WLL) license holders; Rs530.816 million due to non-encashment of Stand By Letter of Credit (SBLC); Rs628.93 million due to failure in revenue collection from small companies; erroneous deposit of Federal Consolidated Funds (FCF) amounting to Rs820.918 million in Universal Service Fund (USF) company and Rs80 million due to embezzlement.
Holding Member Finance Ghaznavi directly responsible for making no effort to recover dues under various heads, the report says that “a huge amount of recovery/receivables have not been fully collected since 2005 and PTA is issuing belated show cause notices now and filling the recovery cases in the courts whereas many of the operators have already left their companies and sold their shares which have now made the issue more and more complicated since the recovery cannot be made from them”. “The number of licenses issued by PTA was not reconciled between licensing and finance divisions of PTA as the member finance did not take any action as a result of which the Finance Division did not even know about so many licencees and therefore did not issue them any demand note,” the report further says.
At the time of filing report on 14th March, in response to ‘The News’ queries, Member Finance SNK Ghaznavi in a written reply claimed that “all the items in the report were properly replied to the Cabinet Division. Regarding the recovery from WLL licenses holders they are willing to pay in installments but because of the economic conditions in the country and slackness in their business; they cannot pay in lump sump. There is no loss to the state because penalty is charged @ 2 percent per month on the outstanding amount. Similarly, SBLCs are securities furnished by operators to fulfill the roll out obligations by them as per the license conditions which are watched by DG (Licencing) and DG (Enforcement) directly reporting to Chairman. All the above cases were approved by the Chairman.”
It is pertinent to mention here that both the Chairman PTA Dr Yaseen and Member Finance SNK Ghaznavi are not enjoying working relationship particularly on account of internal powers sharing mechanism and this performance report has been prepared under the supervision of Chairman Dr Mohammad Yaseen.
Though on the one hand this confidential report held the Member (Finance) responsible for causing a huge loss to PTA for his failure to recover the due payments from the defaulting parties leaving a negative impact on the performance of Member (Finance) SNK Ghaznavi, yet on the other hand the same report also praised the efforts of Chairman PTA Dr Mohammad Yaseen by stating that “the belated recovery drive authored by Chairman PTA after taking over the powers of Member Finance has successfully resulted making recovery in many areas” thus projecting the image of chairman PTA in positive terms. In this connection, the report claimed that “since the issuance of re-organization on May 14, 2010 under which the DG (Finance) started reporting directly to the Chairman PTA Dr Mohammad Yaseen instead of Member (Finance) PTA SNK Ghaznavi, PTA has succeeded in recovering Rs19.6 billion during the last six months which is historically the highest collection.”
In such a situation when both Chairman PTA and the suspended Member Finance were pursuing different approach causing direct conflict, referring a case of Member (Finance) to Chairman Federal Public Service Commission (FPSC) is appreciated by the telecom sector which is facing great deal of difficulties because of this ‘in-house rift’.
On account of internal rift and the possibility of twisting the facts in his favour, Chairman PTA Dr Mohammad Yaseen categorically told The News that “if someone thinks that this performance report on the basis of which Member (Finance) has been suspended has been prepared direct under my supervision, then they should also keep in mind that the same performance report had itself recommended that enquiry against Member (Finance) be referred to FPSC so as to make the entire process transparent.”
Source: The News
Date:5/6/2011
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