The government has postponed the privatisation of State Life Insurance Corporation (SLIC), National Insurance Corporation Limited (NICL) and public reinsurance companies. This was stated by Secretary Ministry of Commerce Younus Dagha, while briefing the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of the Parliament, which met under the chairmanship of Shahbaz Sharif here on Monday. Dagha said the privatisation will have a negative impact on small insurance holders; therefore, the government has postponed the process, adding that within a year a significant improvement will be seen in the performance of the SLIC. The secretary said that fake insurance agents were registered with the corporation as a result the entity was paying up to Rs 4.8 billion to them on account of commission.
In order to rid SLIC of fake commission agents, the ministry has taken a number of steps including promotion of sales officers to sales managers, he added. Member Committee Malik Aamir said that the sales managers of the SLIC are on strike as a result of government's measurers. Responding to Malik Aamir, the secretary commerce said the government will do no injustice to the people attached with the SLIC, but it couldn't pay the commission to fake agents.
Discussing the matter of SLIC investment in Thatta Cement Factory, the auditor general of Pakistan (AGP) said that the SLIC in violation of set rules and regulations invested 17 percent in the cement factory although, as per laws, only 5 percent investment is allowed. The secretary trade responding to the audit objection said that soon after the investment SLIC management realised their mistake and sold off shares at Rs 260 billion which were purchased at Rs 130.8 billion, earning almost a 100 percent profit. The committee settled the audit objection.
The auditor general of Pakistan complained that the principal accounting officers (PAOs) are not cooperating with the audit officials. He said that the AGP time and again is reminding the PAOs of conducting DACs but they always ignore the requests. The chairman directed the secretary PAC to write directives to all the PAOs in this regard. The chairman committee expressed anger over the revelations and directed the PAOs to conduct timely DACs and clear the audit objections; otherwise, the panel will take a serious action.
The committee constituted a subcommittee under the chairpersonship of Member National Assembly Shahida Akhtar to take up the audit paras up to Rs 50 million. The chairman committee said that it was decided in the very first meeting that all audit paras below Rs 50 million will be discussed in subcommittees to clear the burden and recover the outstanding amounts against various departments and individuals. The Public Accounts Committee has ordered an audit of the State Life Insurance Corporation of Pakistan after it was informed that fake insurance agents have caused a loss of nearly Rs5 billion to the national exchequer.
These agents were registered with the State Life Insurance Corporation of Pakistan, revealed Federal Trade Secretary Younus Dagha. Briefing on the matters the appointment of commercial counsellors in Pakistani embassies, the secretary trade said that these appointments since 2016 have been made on merit as per Lahore University on Management and Science (LUMS) test by a special selection board. He added that there is a viable system to judge the performance of a commercial counsellor and a commercial counsellor is recalled on poor performance as per new policy.
The secretary said that in some critical countries like China, trade counsellors are playing an important role in improving diplomatic ties, adding that now the ministry is also considering appointing Pakistani expatriates as commercial counsellors in some countries.
Khawaj Asif while supporting the idea of appointing overseas Pakistanis as trade counsellors said that lack of familiarity with local langue is a serious issue for commercial counsellors and the move to appoint overseas Pakistanis will remove this hurdle. Asif also said that the government must reconsider the education qualification of the trade counsellors. The PAC jointly supported the idea of appointing Pakistani expatriates as trade counsellors.
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