ISLAMABAD: A parliamentary panel was on Thursday told that China Gezhouba Group Co Ltd and a company purportedly owned by Razak Dawood – the adviser to the prime minister on commerce – were paid Rs4.5 billion under the head of mobilisation advance before the land acquisition for Dasu Dam.

The meeting of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament, which was held here with its chairman Rana Tanveer in the chair, reviewed the audit paras pertaining to the Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda).

The audit officials said that Dasu dam project was started without acquisition of land, and the contractors were paid a huge sum of Rs4.5 billion on the head of mobilisation advance.

The PAC chairman questioned: why such a huge sum was “doled out” to a “blue-eyed” contractor before the acquisition of land for the construction of dam.

Sanaullah Mastikhel, a member of the PAC, said that mobilisation advance means “corruption”, which should be investigated and people behind it should be taken to task.

He said that this is an open and shut case of corruption, which should be referred to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) for a thorough probe.

The PAC chairman said that how funds could be released without acquiring land for a such a big project.

When the members inquired about the “blue-eyed contractors and the influential construction company owners” who managed to “pocket” such a huge sum of amount well before acquisition of land, the Wapda officials said: China Gezhouba Group Co Ltd and a company owned by commerce adviser Abdul Razak Dawood.

The committee deferred the matter after the Wapda officials said that Dawood had now appointed his son as chairman of the company which had taken such a huge sum of money under the head of mobilisation advance.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021