ISLAMABAD: Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Accountab-ility, Shahzad Akbar Friday said the government had sent sugar subsidy case to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to conclude it.
Addressing a news conference here Friday, Shahzad said the government would take action as per the law against sugar mills in the light of the sugar inquiry commission report.
He said that the Supreme Court had vacated stay order of Sindh High Court (SHC) on the issue, and the government would proceed into the matter. The Supreme Court had also directed the high courts to decide pending petitions relating to the sugar commission within three weeks period.
Over 100 stay orders regarding sugar mills were still pending in various courts since the last 11 years. The government had made public the sugar inquiry commission report for the first time in history.
The Islamabad High Court had also vacated sugar mills association's stay order after vigorous persuasion by the government. On receiving the Sugar Inquiry Report, he said the federal cabinet had approved a strategy including roadmap of taking punitive action, introducing reforms and rationalising the price of sugar.
A committee headed by Minister for Industries Hammad Azhar has been constituted to finalise the reforms in sugar policy and rationalise prices of sugar. The committee has started negotiations with the sugar mills association in this regard.
The provincial governments, the Competition Commission of Pakistan, the State Bank of Pakistan, the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) and the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) have been directed to investigate violations by the sugar mills in accordance with their rules and report within a period of 90 days.
A reference has been sent to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to investigate the misappropriation in subsidies given to the sugar mills according to the NAB Ordinance 1999.
The Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) would probe last 10 years cartelisation in sugar industry, the State Bank of Pakistan will investigate sugar mills willful loan defaults, and pledged sugar stocks according to their rules.
The FIA will inquire the fake export of sugar to Afghanistan and report within 90 days. The provincial governments have been asked to probe violations by sugar mills including paying less price of sugarcane to farmers and other violations.
The government proceedings include punitive action against those responsible for the sugar crisis, reforming sugar policy and rationalizing sugar price, the special assistant added. Shahzad Akbar maintained that the concerned departments would carry out their investigations into the matter.
Some Rs254 million of Ramzan Package 2018 had been misappropriated by 149 flour mills tasked to provide atta to people on subsidised rates, he said. He said from out of Rs254 million a sum of Rs190 million had already been recovered and deposited into the national exchequer.
While action was also being taken against 156 officials of the food department. The anti-corruption department has started criminal proceedings against 70 officials of the food department, who were directly involved in misappropriation of wheat subsidy.
He said 149 flour mills were involved in the embezzlement of wheat from a total of 687 mills. Right now, due to strict measures taken, a 20kg flour bag was available at Rs860.
In case of complaint, helpline of the Punjab government can be dialed. Responding to a question, he said that a 20-kilogram bag of wheat flour is available at Rs860 in Punjab. Responding to another question, he said the delay in action against sugar was due to litigation. Earlier on June 20th, Prime Minister Imran Khan had vowed to take the sugar case to its logical conclusion.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2020
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