'PPRA causing waste of significant portion of public exchequer'

Chairman Pakistan Ordnance Factory (POF), Lieutenant General Shujaat Zameer Dar (Retd) said that the Public Procurement Rules (PPRA) was lengthy and complicated which resulted in the waste of significant portion of public exchequer. He said this in a meeting of Implementation and Monitoring Committee of the National Assembly's Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on Wednesday.
The meeting was chaired by Ms Yasmin Rehman. Secretary Defence Production, Lieutenant General Israr Ghumman (Retd) also endorsed the statement when said that PPRA Rules barred ministry at times from negotiating with the lowest bidder while by doing so they could save more public money. The committee also expressed serious concerns over the poor performance of National Accountability Bureau (NAB) in pursing corruption cases. Yasmin said that NAB was not pursuing corruption efficiently.
Earlier, Additional Director NAB, Abdul Hafeez informed the sub committee that Bureau moved a reference of Rs 1.7 billion against Former Chairman, Pakistan Automobile Corporation Limited (PACO) Muzammal Niazi and Managing Director Javed Burki in the accountability court in 2002 and pending for any verdict in the accountability court of Karachi.
Reviewing the audit objections regarding Defence Production, it was brought to the knowledge that Director General Munitions Production reached an agreement with Pakistan Automobile Corporation Limited (PACO) in 1992 for the purchase of 400 trucks. Scraping the deal caused a loss of Rs 1.7 billion. The committee directed Secretary Ministry of Defence Production, Lieutenant General Israr Ghumman (Retd) to contact Attorney General of Pakistan for speeding up the trial of the case in the accountability court.