Authority & Responsibility - 14

Satiricus wrote:

Although many people regard Musharraf as lesser evil than the most politicians in power, they think it was certainly a great blunder on the part of Musharraf to issue National Reconciliation Ordinance as the country is being taken over by the convicts and those accused of massive corruption and misrule. He should not have allowed the cases against the politicians to linger on for over 5 years. If by virtue of NRO, the guilty persons have been released let us hope and pray that sooner or later they would be brought to justice with or without divine intervention.

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Dear Sir,

Lets just assume that every politician is corrupt but what actions were taken against them by the several Military Regimes in Pakistan who while usurping power had declared [first speech by Ayub, Yahya, Zia and Musharraf while abragating the Constitution] that 'Corruption and Corrupt Politicians have plagued Pakistan'. Rather these very corrupt politicians become supporters of Martial Law Regimes. For example what action Musharraf took against the below mentioned political family rather they are now heading the King's Party [Mr. Musharraf's Q League and several othe breakaway factions of other political parties are also in Mr. Musharraf's Camp]. The funny thing is that before 12 Oct 1999 several such corrupt politicians were in every party and suddenly they were with Musharraf. Please tell me did Mr Musharraf created the National Accountability Bureau to hoodwink common Pakistanis or just to conduct accountability of Clerk and Despatch Riders?

Read

As white as driven snow By Ardeshir Cowasjee

03 November 2002 Sunday 27 Shaban 1423

http://www.dawn.com/weekly/cowas/20021103.htm

Yesterday, it was announced to a patient nation that the Kingmaker Chaudhry had nominated as his party's candidate for primeministership an equally able man, Mir Zafrullah Khan Jamali of the under populated, neglected, barren land mass that forms 43 per cent of the area of this country. But perhaps and hopefully all is not plain sailing. The Chaudhry and his fellow Chaudhry, Pervez Elahi, will have to face the charges levelled against them which warrant disqualification from the political scene in Writ Petition No.18463/2002, Mian Sajid Pervez, president, [of Imran Khan's] Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf Punjab versus Federation of Pakistan, Election Commission of Pakistan, Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain [Respondent No.3], Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi [Respondent No.4], Returning Officer, NA105 Gujrat II and PP 110 Gujrat III, filed in the Lahore High Court in the second half of September, by Advocate Hamid Khan, the president of the Supreme Court Bar Association.

It has been cited that under Clause (o) of sub-Article 2 of Article 8D of the Conduct of General Elections Order 2002 pertaining to the disqualification of members of our assemblies, it is stipulated that a person stands disqualified if "he has obtained a loan for an amount of two million rupees or more, from any bank, financial institution, cooperative society or corporate body in his own name or in the name of his spouse or any of his dependents, which stands unpaid for more than one year from the due date, or has had such loan written off."

Similarly, Representation of People Act 1976, Section 12(2)(c), provides that a member is not qualified to sit in our assemblies if he makes: "a declaration that no loan for an amount of two million rupees or more obtained from any bank, financial institution, cooperative society or corporate body in his own name or in the name of his spouse or any of his dependents, or any business concern mainly owned by him or the aforesaid, stands unpaid for more than one year from the due date, or has got such loan written off" This makes it quite clear that any person who has obtained a loan of Rs 2 million or more from any bank and had it written off, stands disqualified from being a member of the national or provincial assemblies. The writ petition relates that Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain and Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi obtained a loan in the name of the company of which they were both directors, Punjab Sugar Mills Limited of Mian Channu, from the National Bank of Pakistan. In 1999, Rs.37.987 million was written off, which fact is recorded in the annual report of the bank for that year. At the time, Shujaat was the federal minister of interior and Pervaiz was speaker of the Punjab Assembly. The two Chaudhrys obtained another loan from the Muslim Commercial Bank Limited for their Punjab Sugar Mills Limited and in 2000 a sum of Rs 22.792 million was written off, which fact is recorded in the annual report of the Bank for that year

In His Prime By Adnan Adil

http://www.newsline.com.pk/NewsJul2004/newsbeat2jul.htm

A loyalist of the Pakistan army establishment, Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain finally makes it to the much coveted post of Prime Minister.

July 2004

While Shujaat Hussain and his two brothers, Chaudhry Wajahat Hussain, an MNA, and Chaudhry Shafaat Hussain, district nazim of Gujarat, and a first cousin and brother-in-law, Chaudhry Pervez Elahi, the present chief minister of the Punjab, are full-time politicians, his sons, along with the sons of Chaudhry Pervez Elahi run the family business.

Shujaat Hussain entered politics following the murder of his father and, in 1982, was made a member of General Zia-ul-Haq's hand-picked consultative body, the Majlis-i-Shoora, and later elevated to the federal cabinet. In 1985, he won the non-party elections as a member of the National Assembly from Gujarat, a seat that he has won four times since, and lost only once, to the PPP's Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar in 1993. He was elected senator on losing the National Assembly election.

Shujaat Hussain is a shrewd politician; though politically inarticulate and a poor orator, he is a master in the art of wheeling and dealing. He has always remained on the side of the country's military establishment and ditched his civilian bosses and close friends and colleagues, whenever it came to a choice between the two. Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain has served as federal minister with two former prime ministers, Mohammed Khan Junejo and Nawaz Sharif. He left both of them when the military proceeded against them. When General Zia removed Mohammed Khan Junejo, Shujaat Hussain joined the faction of the Pakistan Muslim League that was supporting General Zia-ul-Haq. When Nawaz Sharif fell from grace, the Chaudhrys went with General Musharraf.

In 1986, the Chaudhrys had challenged the then chief minister of the Punjab, Nawaz Sharif, through a no-confidence motion but failed to oust him. Nawaz Sharif subsequently made up with them, but he always saw them as a potential threat and kept them at arm's length. He did not allow their influence to spread and saw to it that Pervez Elahi never became chief minister of the Punjab during his tenure as prime minister of the country. When Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was ousted on October 12, 1999, in a military coup by President General Musharraf, Hussain waited in the wings for a while to part ways but immediately distanced himself from Sharif, using one pretext or the other. Sharif became so distrustful of him that he appointed his wife, Kulsoom Nawaz, to look after the party's affairs and she, in fact, ran Nawaz's campaign for his release more effectively than party leaders like Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain.

What about the Scandals of Corruption by those element who are now supporting Mr Musharraf against the Impeachment.

‘Big fish’ allowed to escape net: Tariq: Ex-chief of SECP issues ‘white paper’ by Sher Baz Khan

http://www.dawn.com/2006/07/08/top2.htm

ISLAMABAD, July 7: Former chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) Dr Tariq Hassan on Friday issued a ‘white paper’ on the March 2005 stock exchange crash, and claimed he had reached close to a ‘few big fish” when he was shown the door.

“The last orders on my table, when I was removed from my post on Eid day, was the appointment of forensic investigators to probe the few big brokers held responsible by the task force (for the crash),” Mr Hassan told reporters after presenting the so-called white paper to the National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Finance and Revenue. The committee at its meeting, presided over by Chaudhry Anwar Ali Cheema, ordered the appointment of another team of forensic investigators to probe reports about involvement of 11 high-profile brokers in the Karachi Stock Exchange
crash.

The team will be presenting its report to the committee within 10-12 weeks after which those found responsible might be brought to book. Their names are also likely to be put on the Exit Control List.

“They (the government) have no other option but to continue with the reforms I had initiated but was not allowed to complete. The moral pressure on them is building and compelling them to get hold of the big fish. Otherwise, I fear form will prevail over substance,” said Mr Hassan while commenting on the committee’s decision to proceed with the probe.

MNAs from the ruling party and opposition quoted Mr Hassan as saying in the meeting that he would never retreat from his stand that he had not been allowed to go ahead with reforms. The former SECP chairman asked how could he get hold of those powerful brokers who, he alleged, had access to the prime minister.

During the nine-hour meeting, Dr Hassan faced tough questions from the Minister of State for Finance Omar Ayub Khan and Prime Minister’s Adviser Dr Salman Shah, apparently because he had mentioned their names in letters he had sent to the prime minister and accused them of pressurising him not to replace Carry-over Transaction with margin financing, one of the main causes of the crash. When Dr Hassan was busy answering journalists’ questions after the meeting in the committee room, a government official approached him and asked him to leave as Dr Salman Shah, Omar Ayub and incumbent SECP chairman Raziur Rehman were to hold a news conference.

“Dear, you people have invited me to this meeting,” said Dr Hassan to the official while leaving the room.

Ruling party MNA Kashmala Tariq told reporters that there was a threat to Dr Hassan’s life because he had taken on some powerful people. For the first 50 minutes of the meeting, Dr Hassan was not allowed to speak and it was only after a protest by opposition MNAs that he was given an opportunity to do so.

Starting his presentation, Dr Hassan quoted from Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar: “The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves that we are underlings.” SECP chairman Raziur Rehman was asked by Dr Hassan and Ms Tariq why had the reform process had been stopped and why task force’s recommendations had not been implemented, which resulted in another market crash. Insiders told Dawn that at one point Mr Omar Ayub said he had taken strong exception to Ms Tariq’s remarks when she said “our prime minister also intervenes in our stock market”. Ms Tariq was replying to Mr Omar Ayub’s comment that even the US president had intervened in the stock market on various occasions. Former KSE chairman Yasin Lakhani and Aqeel Karim Dhedi (AKD) were present on the occasion.

OPPOSITION’S DEMAND: Members of the committee from the opposition, Mujeeb Pirzada, Mohammad Laeeque Khan, Qurban Ali Shah, Khalid Iqbal Memon and Sardar Ayaz Sadiq, at a separate press conference later, said the government was responsible also for the market crash of May 2006. They said the fresh crash took place because no action had been taken against the influential brokers involved in the March 2005 crash.

The members demanded resignation of the prime minister for his alleged intervention in the stock market affairs and links with some brokers, first stopping the SECP chairman from taking action against manipulators and then sending him home when he initiated reforms. “During Shaukat Aziz’s era, first as the finance minister and later as the prime minister, the country’s stock market has crashed in 2000, 2001, 2002, 2005 and May 2006. Therefore, we demand resignation of the prime minister,” Mr Pirzada said.

They said the committee had decided that the stock market reform process must go on.

Stock market scams State minister, adviser accused of links to brokers Rauf Klasra

http://www.thenews.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=1842

ISLAMABAD: Former chairman of Securities Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) Tariq Hassan alleged during an NA body meeting on finance and revenue on Friday that the Prime Minister’s Adviser on Finance, Salman Shah and Minister of State Omar Ayub Khan, had links to powerful brokers, who were involved in the multibillion rupees scams in the stock exchanges.

The meeting was presided over by MNA Anwar Cheema and attended by Salman Shah, Omar Ayub Khan, top officials of the SECP and MNAs Farid Ahmed Piracha, Fouzia Wahab, Qurban Ali Shah, Mehreen Anwar Raja, Ali Asjad Mali, Robina Saadat. Powerful stockbrokers also attended the meeting. Sources said the situation became tense when Salman Shah and Tariq Hassan allegedly exchanged hot words, when the latter told the meeting how he was pressurised by these top guns to help the brokers mint money and finally he was ousted from the office.

However, both Shah and Omar denied the charges, terming it merely Hassan’s ‘personal opinion’ as there was no authentic proof available against them. Hassan did not mince his words when he said that he was under pressure even from Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz to keep close contacts with top guns of stock markets, who were actually involved in the whole scam.

However, when contacted by The News to verify what he said in the committee meeting regarding the links of Salman Shah and Omar Ayub and pressure of the prime minister to keep links with powerful brokers, Tariq Hssain refused to take phone call by saying he was “busy”. One of the participants of the meeting claimed that a list of 21 key brokers, involved in the stock exchange market, was also presented before the committee members. The highlight of the meeting was the presentation of Tariq Hassan on market scams, which hit the stock market first in March 2005 and recently in May 2006. The SECP report on the scam was also discussed in the committee.

Hassan claimed that the prime minister’s adviser on finance and Omar Ayub had direct contacts with the brokers, who were actually behind the stock market crises. He also told the committee members that both the top dignitaries of the government continuously interfered in the affairs of the commission that led to erosion of his authority and that of the commission. Hassan was also quoted as telling the committee that whenever he tried to take any action against the brokers, for their foul practices, they contacted the prime minister through these two top officials. He further said his decisions were never implemented. The sources claimed that he also submitted a list of 21 brokers involved in the scam.

According to the list, following companies and brokers were involved in the scam. Those found involved in wash trading were Moosati Securities, Aqeel Karim Dady, World Wide security, AHKD Security, Munir Ahmed Kanani, Motiwala Security, and Anas Kaparia. Brokers found involved in Badla financing were Arif Habib Securities, Aqeel Karim Dady, Atlas Investment, DGM Securities Limited, Bank Investment, KASB Securities, Datsun Limited, First Capital Equity, Motiwala Securities, ME Securities, Jahangir Siddique, Akbar Ali Qasim, M Hasnain and First Equity.

The sources said that Hassan also claimed these brokers were giving money to the people on interest through Badla financing and later increased the prices of shares and resorted to wash trading. “This actually led to market crash,” Hassan was quoted as telling the committee members. The sources said that Salman Shah showed his resentment over these stunning allegations, saying it was opinion of a person and that too without any solid proof. He claimed that even the Bombay market was rocked by similar kind of crises, so it was not something extraordinary.

Meanwhile, addressing a press conference after the meeting, opposition members Sardar Ayaz Sadik (PML-N), Mujeeb Pirzada, Laeeq Khan (MMA), Khalid Iqbal Memon (PPPP) and Qurban Ali Shah (PPPP) demanded resignation of Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz. They said the prime minister was directly involved in the March-2005 market crash. They alleged that the prime minister is directly involved in the market crash and is protecting the brokers named in the task force report prepared by the four-member committee headed by a retired justice of Supreme Court. The members also said the PM should resign and allow the National Assembly to elect a new leader of the House because he has failed to protect the rights of the people.


499 high and mighty in for trouble

SC move against misuse of farmhouses to affect rulers, generals, bureaucrats, businessmen By Rauf Klasra

The News dated October 10, 2007

http://www.thenews.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=10566

ISLAMABAD: President General Pervez Musahrraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz might be deprived of their two multi-million rupee farmhouses, which they bought in the suburbs of Islamabad in 2003, after the Chief Justice of Pakistan directed the CDA bosses on Monday to cancel allotment of all those farms which were being used for residential purposes. The farms were initially alloted at highly subsidised rates for growing vegetables and poultry farming.

The CJ’s sweeping directive to the CDA might affect the ownership of 499 top guns, who were allotted a total of 2,500 acres of land worth billions of rupees in the suburbs of Islamabad at throwaway prices in the name of meeting the rising demand for vegetables, orchards and poultry in the twin cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad. It has now been brought to the notice of the court that instead of cultivating vegetables and orchards and keeping poultry, huge luxury palaces have been constructed on the plots by powerful people.

A top CDA official has claimed that the farmhouses of both the president and the prime minister also fall in the category of those farms which were not being used for the purpose for which they were originally allotted by the CDA. The CDA has quietly informed Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry that President General Pervez Musharraf and Shaukat Aziz have purchased two plots measuring 5 acres and 2.5 acres respectively worth millions of rupees, which were actually meant for boosting production of poultry and vegetables in the suburbs of Islamabad. The CJ has been informed that a total of 25,000 acres of precious land worth billions of rupees in the suburbs of Islamabad was given to 499 tops guns of the country including powerful generals, bureaucrats, businessmen and officials of the secret agencies at highly subsidised rates in the ‘70s, ‘80s and ‘90s under the CDA’s policy to meet the rising demands of certain commodities in the twin cities. However, a majority of those who were allotted these plots, mostly army officers and bureaucrats, later sold them at much higher prices after the CDA brought about changes in its by-laws to accommodate some powerful people to sell these farms. Musharraf and Shaukat Aziz too have purchased farmlands from the actual owners.

The so-far secret list submitted in the court of CJ Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry by the CDA through official letter No EMA.IN/2007 in the suo moto case No 10 of 2007 on the issue of increased prices of daily commodities, reveals that a total of 499 top guns of Pakistan were allotted these farms. But instead of producing poultry and vegetables on these big farms, they simply constructed huge palatial mansions and recreational facilities.

The names of Musharraf, son of Musharrafuddin, owner of plot No C-1/B Park Road Chak Shahzad and Shaukat Aziz, son of Sh Abdul Aziz, owner of plot No C-16, A-1, Chak Shahzad, have been submitted to the court in response to the Supreme Court orders dated July 23 and August 9. Now in the court of CJ Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, who is heading a bench to hear a case against the causes of price hike, both Musharraf and Aziz might face charges of violating the terms and conditions of CDA policy for which these plots were actually allotted.

The list containing the names of Musharraf and Shaukat Aziz in addition to 497 other high-ups was submitted before the SC by Raja Abdul Ghafoor, advocate, on record on behalf of the CDA on September 3. This correspondent has managed to get the original copy of allotment order of these farms which reveals the names of all those who exploited their power to get them at throwaway prices, but later either sold them in the open market or did not use the land for for the purpose they had got it in the first place.

Apart from the president and prime minister, Justice Dr Javed Iqbal, the son of national poet Allama Iqbal is also included in the list submitted before the Supreme Court. Justice Javed Iqbal has got one plot of 2.72 acres in 1999 in the name of launching a poultry and vegetable business from one Nazir Mohammad Sheikh. The ISI had also got certain agro farms allotted in its name.

One Mian Riazuddin was given 26.5 acres of land while another, Ghulam Abbas, was given 18 acres. The list also shows the names of former chairman Senate Wasim Sajjad, and many top military generals and other high-ranking officials and bureaucrats.

Others persons who got these plots include DG ISI Maj Gen Asad Nawaz Khan, Dr Anwar Aziz, Brig Sajawal Khan, Justice Javed Iqbal, Afzal Wali, Riffat Jamil Nishtar, Mohammad Shujaat Azeem (the brother of information minister Tariq Azim), PPPP leader Naheed Khan, Azra Wasim Sajjad, Dr Abdul Riaz, Major General S. Ali Hamid, Ms Zeba Fasih Bokhari, Sadia Hafeez Pirzada and others. This correspondent tried to get the version of the Prime Minister House but the press secretary to the PM, Shabir Anwar, did not receive the telephone calls. Likewise, Information Minister Mohammad Ali Durrani did not receive the calls.

According to the list, General Pervez Musharraf purchased a five-acre plot from the daughter-in-law of Sardar Abdul Rab Nishtar in 2003. Ms Riffat Jamil, wife of Jameel Nishtar had bought this farm to launch her own poultry and vegetable business from a certain Hasan Qureshi who was actually allotted this plot by the CDA in 1979. General Musharraf got this plot on November 4, 2003 from Ms Riffat Nishtar. The price of the plot is not mentioned. Likewise, Shaukat Aziz bought a plot measuring 2.6 acres to launch his own poultry and vegetable business on March 14, 2003 from Murtaza Siddiqi, son of Haji M. Yousaf. This gentleman was given the plot at a throwaway price in 1985.

Following is the list of persons who were allotted these farms but sold them later:

Mehfooz Ellahi, Haji Zerwar Khan, Syed Abdul Rehman, Rana Allah Dad Khan, Maj Mohamamd Akram Khan, Ms Nasreen Akthar, Fazal Subhan Khan, DG ISI, Rasheed Ahmad Khan, Agha Aleem Ahmad, Ms Samani Rizwan, Ms Rukaya Hussain, Akthar Moeed, Mr Mohammad Ilyas, Haji Fazalur Rehman Wazir, Hasan Akthar, Ms Rodaba Shuja, Malik Mohammad Akram, Mirza Iktidar Hussain, Mr Ijaz Shafi, Riazuddin, Mr Rashid, Kh Kamran, Ms Bushara Akram, Mehboob Ellahi, Sh Azizur Rehman, Hassan Hamid, Mr Hassan Hameed, Mohammad Sarwar Khan, Ms Rani Ghulam, Mohammad Sharif, Mr Mohammad Ilyas, Mohammad Aslam Jan, Sohail Shakil, Irshad Ahmed, Anwar Saeed, Mahboobdul Haq, Ahmad Ghazal Usmani, Dr Ambreen Ahmed, Ahmed Bilal Bajwa, Javed Latif Kahloon, Suleman Corporation, Mr Sardar Zulifkar, Ms Salma Kafeel Qureshi, Sardar Zafrullah Khan, Hamayun Qureshi, Kalimur Rehman, Comd (retd.) Mehdi, S. Nasimuddin, Ch. Hashmat, Nabeeb, Miss Farhah Hussein, Ms Osma and Mustafa, Dr Anwar Aziz, Mehar Zulifkar Ali Babu, Haji Mohammad Gulbahar and others, Ms Gulzar, Ch. Abdur Rehman, Mehmood Ahmed, Col Aleemuddin, Abdul Rehman, Ms Nayyab, Brig Sajawal Khan Malik, Arshad Butt, M Ilyas, Kamal Raza, Prof Afaq Ali Khan, Mrs Shama Usman, Mian Nabeen Sami, Ms Maliha Hussain, Sher Ali Jafar, Tariq Hussain, Mohammad Hanif, Ambreen Haroon, Nisar Ahmed, Mohammad Imran Khan, Azra Sarfraz Sajad, Afaf Zohra Qadeer, Rehmanullah, Ali Haider Bilgrami, Ms Feroz Tehseen Naqvi, Major Mohammad Ali Qureshi, Usman Ahmed Janjua, Mohammad Rafiq Minhas, Mohammad Nisar, Nighat Rehman, Zohra Nasim, Shaban Askari, Rubina Qazilbash, Naz Aziz Ahmed, Maryam Ali, Muhammad Amjad, Gulrazi Shahid, Shamim Ara, Bilal Hussain, Mohammad Ahmed, Shahzad Ahmed, Mohammad Zareen Malik, Iqbal Hussain, Shireen Ansari, Ms Rifat Mani, Bashir Husain, Iram Rahim, Shamim Mehmood, Pervez Mahmood Sheikh, Afzal Wali, Haleema Haroon, Abdul Hafeez, Masood Khan, Shafiunisa, Nazar Hussain Shah, Faisal Abbas, Ms Fatima Hameed, Zamah Khawar Ansari, Zaeenul Haq, Ghazala Nargis, Ishra Iftikar, Waseem Akthar, Tajammul Hussain, Miss Sameen Siddiqu, Miss Nadia Raza Shah, Syed Mushtaq Abbas, Ch. Abdul Hameed, Begum Zohra Jalali, Mohammad Awais, Nisar Ahmed, Moin Samad Khan, Zulakaha Khanum, Shamim Khan, Ms Rohi Toyaka Ch, Ms Yamina Mittah, Abbas Hassan, Rahim Qureshi, Mudassaar Ijaz, Mohammad Irfan Ali, Ms Iffat Riaz, Ms Shaughta Ikram, Rashid Mehmood Randahwa, Shamoon
Zakriya, Shamoom Zakriya, Ali Mohammad, Fazal Din, Allah Yar, Sajjad Hussain, Mohammad Banaras Sh, Amjad Ali, Ms Allah Rakhi, Mohamamd Banara, Sh Mohammad Zuliqar, Sakhwat Hussain, Mohammad Shafiq, Irfan Hameed Khali, Haroon Khan, Ali Ejaz Hussain, Javed Iftikar, Ghulam Dewan Mustafa Khalid, Summar Atta Saeed, Usman Atta Saeed, Ch. Mohammad Saeed Bhatti, Imran, Malik Sohrab, Mohammad Javed Bhatti, Mohammad Shujat Azim, Pakistan Services Limited Islamabad, Dilshad Najamuddin, Saleem Murad, Danish Qaiser, Ijaz Hussain Awan, Asad Hayat Khan, Faisal Muneer, Khalid Bilal Usmani, Nisar Nawaz Jaffar, Mohamamd Neroze Khan, Mohammad Imran Khan, Mohammad Moinuddin Khan, Chan Mahboob, Ms Tayyab Khalil, Mohammad Amin, Mehrban Khan, Mohammad Yasin, Ch. Fazal Dad, Sher Alam Masud, Ms Sakina, Jalal Din, Iftikhar Hussain, Mohammad Younis, Mohammad Ilyas, Ali Akbar, Lal Khan, Naheed Khan, Ghulam Rasool, Rukayya Khanum Soomro, Ms Ghulam Zareen, Iabql Hussain, Ms Nusrat Sultana, Abdul Hameed, Lt Col Mubarak Ahmad Malik, Ch. Mohammad Ilyas, Nazakat Ali, Khuda Bukhsh, Ch. Tariq Fazal, Ch. Ghulam Mohammad, Jahanzeb Khan Orakzai, Mohammad Afzal, Mohammad Hussain Shah, Ms Tasneem Syed Khan, Mrs Azra Sajjad, Saeed, Ghulam Abbas, Brig Fazal, Qamar Zamand, Fazal Dad, Mr Ramla Mahmood, Mehboob and Ismail, Farhan Sadiq, Begum Almas Hamid, Amjad Imran, Tanveer Aftab, Mohammad Jamil, Ch. Mohammad Ramzan Tahir, Syed Tasleem Wasti, Mrs Zeba Fasih Bukhari, Mr Naseer Ahmed, Naseer Ahmed, Sh. Abdul Majeed, Sultan Ahmed, Mian Farooq Jamal Shah, Zareen Gul, Jamshed Hanif, Shahida Nasir, Said Hafeez Pirzada, Aziz Ahmed, Mumtazur Rehman, Abdul Sattar, Raja Riaz Ahmed, Mohammad Saeed, Faisal Mumtaz, Ms Mahrukh Kamran, Azam Jan, Mohamamd Akhlaq Memon, Amir Shafi Moguhl, Aslam Khaliq, Zafar Ali Kiani, Walayat Khan, Malik Mehboob Hussain, Muhammad Ala Raza Malik, Malik Tabaruk Hussain, Mohammad Ilyas, Malik Taj Khan, Ms Khurshaid Begum, Nazakat Hussain, Haji Mohammad Zaman, Haji Mohammad Zaman, Mirza Khan and Abdul Khalid, Mohammad Fayyaz, Zahoorudin, Tariq Mahmood, Nuzhat Iqbal, Anees Hider, Mohammad Riaz, Rahanaz Hussain, Firdus Ahmed, Asif Mahmood, Tufail Anwar Abbasi, Ajmal Fakar, Ms Ghazala Nagras, Abdul Bari, Raja Javed Ashraf, Syed Akbar Alam, Syed Mohammad Hashmi, Ikramul Haq, Nadeed Bashir, MA Lodhi, Liaqat Ali, Hassan Raza, Ms Bushra Khushnood, Ms Tricon Developers, Syed Najmul Hasan Kazmi, Sharjeel Adnan, Ms Zahida Saeed, Tanveer Ilyas, Tricon Developers, Mohammad Ashraf, Shahazad Waseem, Khanzada, Tricon Developers, Mehtab Khan, Abdul Razaq, Iqbal Ghani, Foudndar and others, Syed Nasir Ali Shah, Haji Javed Islam, Mohammad Yousaf, Malik Laiqur Rehman, Gulzar Ahmed, Sh Abdul Razak, Mohammad Ashraf,
Irum Zaman, Malik Tabarak Hussain, Ms Yasmin Fatima, Ms Mohammadi Begum, Dr Shoaib Shafi, Dr Rizwan Ch. Raja Mohammad Hanif Abbasi, Rajaz Shamshad Hussain, Raja Sajjad Hussain, Raja Sajjad Hussain, Mohammad Naeem Paracha, Jhangir Hussain, Syed Ali Zafar, Aftab Ahmed, Col Bashir Ali, Malik Mehrab, Aziz Begum, Fazal din, Balqees Begum, Syed Fayyaz, Faisal Aba Ali, Abdul Aziz, Nisar Ahmed, Iftikhar Rashid, Naeedm Bashir, Khasif Noorani, Ms Raeesa Rehman, Ghulsher Khan, Saeeda Mahmood, Ms Durre Najaf, Mahreen Gul, Ms Ch. Changez Akthar, Ms Nawaz Khan, Malik Saleem Raza, Nusrat Maqbll, Mohammad Ibraim, Amair Naeem Butt, Ms Hahajehab, Ch. Allah Din Bhatti, Rashid Aktar Chaughtai, Mohammad Sadiq Bhatti, Haji Abdul Razak, Ms Mehrraj Ent, Ms Mohammad Youqub Sughra, Khalilur Rehman, Mohammad Younis, Saifur Rehman, Mian Mohammad Afzal, Haji Gul Ahmed, Mian Abdul Rasheed, Naeem Ghani, Khalid Aziz, Mohammad Irshad, Shafaul Haq, Rashid Khan, Rajaz Mohammad Arshad, Muhammad Ishfaq, Faqir Syed Munir, Brig Abdul Ahed, Dr Fazal Karim, Sabir Khan, Ms Shamim Afridi, Legal heirs of Bajwa, Ms Majabeen Javed, Mureed Hussain, Ghulam Mustafa Khan, Ahmed Ghazal Usmani, Syed Athar Ali Shad, Ijza Shafi Gilani, Iqbal Jan, Raja Jamshed Afandi, Maj General M Ashraf Khan, Mohammad Gulzar, Ms Usman Nawaz Khokar, Mohammad Zaheer, Civil Aviation Authority, Ms Zaibun Nisa, Mian Mohammad Yaqoob, Major Majeed Khan, Syed Agha Faiz Mehdi, Raja Adlat Khan, Mohammad Khan, Tariq Saleem, Attiqur Rehman, Zafar Rahim, Naeedudin Mian, Sh Mohammad Latif, SA Qadir Gilani, Dr Mohamamd Sadiq, Muzaffar Khanum, Khawaja Farrukh Majeed, Zahid Hussain, Aziz Sultan, Mohammad Ilyas Khan, Zahoor Ahmed Khan, Asim Nazeer, Zahoor Ahmed Khan, Qasim Hayat, Malik Ghulam Abbas, Adnan Bashir, Ms Rahat Khabum, Irfanul Haq, Khurshed Hayat, Aamara Hayat, Ch. Mohamamd Iqbal, Abdul Rauf Khan, Col Farooq Rashid, Brig Mohammad Hussain, Brig Sadiq Qureshi, Major General Farhat Ali Burki, Maj General Attaur Rehman, Bilala Hussain, Raza Rehman, Anwar Aziz, Hamid Khursheed, Ms Surrya Akthar, Government of Punjab.

Talking to The News, Chairman CDA Kamran Lashari confirmed that the chief justice had issued a directive to the Authority to launch a survey of the farmhouses and determine whether or not they were being used for the purpose for which they were actually allotted.He said in light of the CJ’s directive, a survey was being launched and its report would be submitted to the court. When asked about the names of General Pervez Musharraf and Shaukat Aziz in the list of those who owned those farmhouses, which were not being used for the purpose they were allotted for, Lashari said no doubt the list contains names of many important people. But he said he had not read all those names but would follow the directions of the court and soon the report would be submitted to the chief justice.

Shaukat Aziz & Co. Plan Selling PIA’s Roosevelt Hotel in NYC for Half Its Value By Shaista Sindhu

Latest Privatization Scandal Exposes Regime Claims of Ending Corruption Parliament Tries to Block Sale Issue No 53, September 14, 2007

http://www.new-pakistan.com/issue%2053/Shaukat%20Aziz%20and%20Co%20Plan%20Selling.html

The Musharraf regime is keen to sell off the Roosevelt Hotel in New York’s midtown Manhattan district despite sustained opposition from the property’s owner, Pakistan International Airlines Investments Limited (PIAIL). Offers of as much as one billion dollars from Manhattan-based real estate developers, seeking to build a skyscraper on the valuable commercial property in the center of town, are being ignored because the government’s financial advisers — a consortium led by Citibank, “Prime Minister” Shaukat Aziz’s former employers — have put the Roosevelt’s value at about $400 million.

An article in Dawn by Khaleeq Kiani recently offered a hint of scandal in the Roosevelt Hotel matter. According to the article, the Citibank-led consortium was appointed as financial advisers for the Roosevelt Hotel sale even though Deutsche Bank’s competing offer for the advisory assignment was the lowest bid. The Citibank-led consortium will be paid at least $4.1 million for advisory services, indicating Shaukat Aziz’s keenness to maintain ties with his former (and possibly future) employer. If The Roosevelt is sold, the Citibank Consortium will be paid an additional one per cent of the bid price. Banking sources say Citibank may also enjoy an edge among lenders when the new buyer raises resources for the bid. The difference between the officially assessed value and the higher valuations floating around could end up in private accounts of those connected to the deal. The prospect of kickbacks, however, is being completely ignored by the so-called custodians of integrity in Pakistan who spent the 1990s spreading rumors of corruption in every business deal involving democratically elected politicians.

Dawn’s background interviews with those knowledgeable about the process suggest that Cushman & Wakefield, a firm that now shares the advisory contract with Citibank, had until recently offered about $400 million for Roosevelt Hotel on behalf of a third party. But soon after its appointment as one of the financial advisers, Cushman & Wakefield asked the original investor to take part in the bidding instead of making offers through C&W. “As in the Pakistan Steel Mills case, insiders question the Government’s push for an accelerated sale process while the board of directors of PIAIL, a PIA subsidiary that runs the Roosevelt, is reluctant to lose a dependable revenue-generating asset. PIAIL’s directors, including some close buddies of the prime minister, oppose the sale of Roosevelt Hotel and have proposed mechanisms including a takeover by Pakistani financial institutions or directly by the government. Given the hotel’s high value and financial health, they believe this option could give PIA the funds needed to replace its ageing fleet.

“The 20-storey Roosevelt Hotel, which has 1,013 rooms including 47 suites, was priced at $325 million in 1999 before being refurbished in 2003. Some real estate executives say the Roosevelt, which sits on a one-acre parcel bound by Madison and Vanderbilt Avenues between 45th and 46th Streets, could be demolished in the future to make way for a new skyscraper worth over $1.2 billion. It also has 15 tenants occupying some 20,000 square feet of retail space. “The Roosevelt was again in the spotlight earlier this month when a team led by PIA chairman Zafar A. Khan visited New York for a first-hand view of the asset. On his return, he echoed the recommendations of the PIAIL board and asked the federal government not to go ahead with an outright sale because the hotel had improved considerably after renovation. Insiders say that Salman Shah, the PM’s adviser on finance, shot down the idea during a meeting and told the PIA to not even think along those lines.

“When contacted, Salman Shah said the meeting in question related to the airline’s restructuring and the PIA chairman was asked to update the plan in six weeks. He said the decision to privatize Roosevelt Hotel had been taken by the cabinet and could not be undone. He said the sale was necessary in terms of finding funds for PIA’s new fleet. Asked as to why the request of the PIA board and management was not being considered, he said they should either run the airline or move into the hotel business.”

If Mr. Shah’s logic is applied in all cases, the Pakistan army should reform itself as a political party to move into the business of politics instead of straddling the dual arenas of national security and running the country. The PIAIL board of directors was recently told that assuming a bid price of $400 million, the net realizable proceeds to the PIA Corporation (PIAC) after deduction of taxes and liabilities would be only $122 million. In comparison, Roosevelt Hotel is expected to yield $7.57 million in profits this year, increasing to $22 million per year in 2017.

The sale of Roosevelt Hotel ran into snags in 2003 when the highest bidder accused a Privatization Commission task force -- led by current secretary finance Ahmad Waqar -- of non-transparency and background negotiations with lower bidders. The privatization of Roosevelt Hotel has been dogged by controversy. Since 1981, the government and the PIA board of directors have taken 15 contradictory decisions regarding the sale of the hotel.

The Loews Corporation had purchased Roosevelt Hotel for $55 million in 1979 from the bankrupt Penn Central Railroad, along with two other railroad hotels. Loews quickly resold the Roosevelt to Paul Milstein, a developer, for less than $30 million. Nine months later, Milstein leased the hotel to a joint venture of the PIA and Prince Faisal bin Khalid bin Abdel Aziz of Saudi Arabia for a rental price ranging from $2.7 million to $4 million a year.

The PIA and the Saudi prince bought the Roosevelt after a legal battle in 1999 with the Milstein family over a 20-year option to buy the hotel for $36.5 million. A landmark 2005 deal between the PIAC and Prince Faisal ended the joint ownership of three hotels under the management of the PIAIL and the assets were redistributed between the partners.

Under the deal, the PIAC got 99.1 per cent ownership of two hotels, namely the Roosevelt, New York, and the Scribe in Paris. In return, the PIA transferred a third hotel in Saudi Arabia, the Minhal Holiday Inn, Riyadh, to the Saudi prince in addition to $40 million.

Meanwhile, the proposed sale of PIA’s Roosevelt Hotel in New York was opposed by a majority of members of the Senate standing committee on defence, with several of them terming the controversial deal of the
profit-making unit reportedly at half its price a ‘national tragedy’.

The committee decided to convene another meeting on the deal allegedly being made despite opposition by the hotel’s owner -- the PIA Investments -- after seeking detailed information from the PIA board and the Privatization Commission.

Following severe criticism of the members, the Senate Standing Committee (SSCD) on Defence asked the Privatization Commission and the Ministry of Defence to halt the scheduled process of selling the New York-based Roosevelt Hotel owned by the National Flag Carrier, PIA, until the next meeting of the Standing Committee.


Shortcut & Co. Facing Serious Sleaze Allegations

Over the past year or more many Chundrigar Road–Wallas have been alleging Shortcut’s involvement in share market profiteering. Mostly they cited his burgeoning friendships with two of the biggest Stock Exchange operators as evidence of the ex-Citibanker’s alleged financial misdemeanors. Some even maintained that Shortcut’s pal ‘Mota’ acts as his middleman in Karachi.

These could have been dismissed as colourful Chundriar Road'side' gossip - just loud whispers and unproven allegations - but when the former Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) openly joins in the fray the proverbial excrement has to hit the fan ( your Blogger's comment: Not that it will change anything!)

Today’s newspapers are filled with stories covering public statements made by Dr Tariq Hassan (former chairman SECP). These statements were made in Islamabad during and after a meeting of the National Assembly Standing Committee on Finance and Revenue which is investigating the US$ 13 billion crash in the stock market in March 2005.

http://politicalpakistan.blogspot.com/2006/07/shortcut-co-facing-serious-sleaze.html