Gen. Musharraf's Economic Policies - 2

Irtiza Ali wrote:

This new-cons Economic Terrorism is all over the World & countries like malaysia are struggling to bring Islamic Economy which Zaid Hamid is also saying but why would you listen to him......Your ears only hear the barking of ANTI-PAKISTANIS like Hamid Mir......

The things which were done by Aziz in a matter of 3-4 years we would have been like USA/UK. But thanks to Allah this Economic Terrorism is being slowly stopped. And all this is not the fault of President Musharraf. Because he choosed the best person which is a graduate of IBA a prestigious Institute of Pakistan. Musharraf only appointed him. He didn't knew what is this Economic Terrorism. He thought Mr Aziz would take care of the country which he did a lot better than sharif/zardari/BB but didn't knew what is this Economic Terrorism.

Wasalam
================================================

Dear Sir,

Since you have declared Hamid Mir http://www.geo.tv/ , http://www.jang.com.pk/ as Anti-Pakistan. I will quote another source on the mismanagement of Shaukat Aziz! Since Pakistan's Military Bureaucrats are respectable [despite being corrupt] for you then I will quote A FORMER GENERAL OF PAKISTAN ARMY [If wonder if he is Anti Pakistan or not as per your logic above]

"QUOTE"

Ex-Chairman Steel Mills exposes Shaukat-Musharraf corruption in the privatization issue

In Dr. Shahid Masood’s programme “Meray Mutabiq” on Geo News ex-chairman steel mills exposes the role of Shaukat Aziz and Pervaiz Musharraf in the privatization scandal.

In his interview General (R) Abdul Qayum also praised the SC at them time under Iftikhar Chudhary(The genuine CJP) and also demanded the resignation of Musharraf.

Below is the news related to the issue.

Ex-chief of Steel Mills spills the beans (The News)

RAWALPINDI: Former chief of the Steel Mills Lt Gen (retd) Abdul Qayyum has advised President General Pervez Musharraf not to exercise his powers under Article 58-2(b) to dissolve parliament or change the Army leadership, adding it would plunge the country into serious crises that too would not augur well for him.

General Qayyum said the best choice for General (retd) Pervez Musharraf is to quit power as, in his view, he (president) did not enjoy the support of any faction of the society.

Qayyum, who served in the Pakistan Army for 40 years with Pervez Musharraf, was responding to questions by Dr Shahid Masood in the popular Geo programme “Meray Mutabiq”.

He disclosed that differences between General (retd) Pervez Musharraf and deposed Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry cropped up over the privatisation of the Steel Mills.

The ex-Steel Mills chief said when the case was being heard by a full court of the Supreme Court, President Musharraf called him (Justice Iftikhar) and asked as to what kind of remarks he (Musharraf) was hearing from him, adding the case should be decided in a manner that it does not cause any loss to the country. To this, Justice Iftikhar said, “You shouldn’t worry. I will decide the case in the best interest of the country.”

The next day when the Supreme Court judgment in the case came, it was totally against the expectations of the president. It was then that a row between the president and the then chief justice ensued.

General (retd) Abdul Qayyum said all the judges on the full court were very honest and competent. They thoroughly did their homework before presiding the court and would make queries to dig into the truth.

To a question, Qayyum said once the then prime minister Shaukat Aziz summoned him and asked him to record a statement in favour of privatisation of the Steel Mills before the Supreme Court. “In response we will accommodate you on a very lucrative post. I told him, Sir, by making me such an offer you have disgraced me,” General Qayyum said.

Lt Gen (retd) Abdul Qayyum further disclosed that once Shaukat Aziz called him on phone and asked him to engage Wasim Sajjad, Sharifuddin Pirzada and Abdul Hafiz Pirzada for the case. But I told him that I have engaged Kamal Azfar. They (Aziz) asked about the fee and I told him that he has engaged him for Rs 700,000 to which the then prime minister said that the Mills should pay Rs 6,200,000 to Wasim Sajjad, Rs 3,500,000 to Abdul Hafiz Pirzada and Sharifuddin Pirzada to be paid even above them.

The former chairman of the Steel Mills said he told Shaukat Aziz that the price of only land of the Steel Mills was Rs 40 billion whereas he was fixing the price of whole the project at Rs 21 billion. This is too low, he further informed the prime minister. He said the prime minister turned a deaf ear to his view and insisted to wrap up the deal before long.

Gen Qayyum said, “I then sent my written objections in a letter. He sent me an insulting answer saying that it falls under their purview.”

Gen Qayyum said painfully that he did not know the reserved price. Some people participating in the bidding did know it, he said.

Gen Qayyum expressed the view that Shaukat Aziz’s bad intention was involved in this matter and an FIR should be registered against him.

Replying to a question, Gen Qayyum said he had tried thrice to meet the president to discuss this matter but he was not granted time. “Then one day I received a phone call saying that I should consider myself out of the job.”

http://united4justice.wordpress.com/2008/05/25/ex-chairman-steel-mills-exposes-shaukat-musharraf-corruption-in-the-privatization-issue/

SHAUKAT AZIZ - GENERAL MUSHARRAF CARTEL [1999 - 2007]

Unabashed examples of incompetence and conflict of interest By Pulse Report

http://www.weeklypulse.org/pulse/article/1672.html

A question is sometimes asked 'why this country, apparently with a lot of promise, can't progress?' A case in point is the Energy Sector, which offers a lot of potential for growth and enhanced production, but has largely remains untapped. This one example pretty much sums it up for the rest of the sectors as well, especially education, medicine, sports, civil rights, etc. Conflict of Interest (COI) plays a prominent role in the make or break of the system. We as a nation have paid very heavily when people at helm of affairs chose to look the other way and mercilessly violated the key clauses of the Constitution.

It is not a secret that there has always been a group of opportunist people or a mafia that called the shots in the energy sector of this poor (and deserving) country, and have given nothing in return. They are often termed as successful people (I would hate to use the word professional for them) as they have ruled for a long time, were able to plunder whopping amounts, were able to please their bosses (or sponsors or dons or masters) in a befitting manner, enabling them to continue with their lucrative positions beyond any reasonable length of time, beyond any accountability and limitation.

Such people are ubiquitously found among the top brass of state-owned entities namely SSGCL, SNGPL, PPL, PSO, OGDCL, WAPDA, PPIB, MGCL, PMDC, and the likes. Then there have been khakis -- a breed that imagine itself to be jack of all trades, but almost always fails to deliver on account of imaginative thinking and versatility deficit. Though some of them have made an exit, their legacy remains as an epitaph of the damage they caused owing to poor policies and bad management among other factors. Still, they remain unaccountable, proving that it is so easy to do what you want in Pakistan, and after amassing wealth, make a temporary exit and have a clean slate, and then return to start all over again. The support that should have come from related infrastructure was always missing due to placement of completely ignorant and 'yes man' type people at the helm of affairs like Tauqir Naqvi (PNSC), Ahmed Hayat (KPT) and the likes – good for the bosses and themselves, but bad for the nation.

There is another issue of grave consequence: placement of people at important positions in governmental or state-owned entities who had earlier served foreign or international companies. It is seen that these people have no commitment level. In fact, their existence at any of these positions has proved to be detrimental to the national interests apart from huge "Conflict of Interest (COI)". To quote few most obvious ones:

Farooq Rehmatullah: An influential former chief of Shell, Mr. Rehmatullah, had the knack and resources for pleasing those at the helm. After his retirement from the company at over 63 years of age, he managed to have himself placed in the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) as Director General with no expertise or background required for the job. His nomination for the position of SSGCL chairman by the Secretary Petroleum also raises a lot of questions. However, the move did not materialize after Tariq Kirmani managed to slip in his own name for the coveted slot through Shaukat Aziz on the last working day of his government.

It is also alleged that Mr. Rehmatullah went overboard in order to please his native friend Jadoon by showering him with gifts, favors, including 14 fully-sponsored foreign visits (on-record). In return, it is stated, he wanted the LNG project for Shell from the SSGCL.

Moreover, when the Khakis took over, he used his connections for getting Omar Asghar, his nephew, placed as a minister in 2000, and this led to formation of "Oil Mafia" that is still going strong and has ripped billions through jacked up petroleum prices. After Omar Asghar’s tragic death, the matter was brushed under the carpet.

Likewise, as member of Board of Trustees of Karachi Port Trust, Mr. Rehmatullah did nothing to write home.

2. Aitzaz Shabaz: Another connected individual, who retired in 1978 from the PBS, but continued at various lucrative positions till about a month ago (at over 81 years of age). He remained on the PIP, SSGCL and some other Boards, but it would be a worthless exercise if someone tries to find out his contributions to Pakistan's energy sector. He was allegedly a disaster when made part of the Minister's (Usman Aminuddin) Energy Task Force. It is on record that he traveled on expense of companies and government, covering half of the world to attend meetings, conferences, exhibitions etc.

3. Usman Aminuddin: Again, a well-connected individual who served in the Petroleum Ministry, but instead of making any positive contributions, allegedly stalled its working on account of mismanagement. Equally responsible for the poor state of affairs at the ministry were his cronies like Aitzaz Shahbaz, M Salim and ex-PPL CEO Masood Sohail, MM Hussein etc. At the age of about 73, he is still knocking doors for a place in the present setup of opportunists. Most of his cronies have interests in several oil and gas projects, according to sources.

4. Tariq Kirmani: He served Caltex, a small oil marketing company with only about 5 per cent market share. Due to conflicts with top management, he opted for a golden handshake and joined Parco as marketing advisor. Within 7-8 months, he was purposely moved to PSO as DMD in marketing department, and from day one, tried to keep things under his control. In this process, he even threw down the gauntlet to the then MD PSO, Shaukat Mirza (late). Later, stories of authority, autocracy, support to khakis, mismanagement of human resources etc., took spaces in all leading as well as lesser known dailies, weekly and monthlies of Pakistan for several years before he landed in the PIA to toss it up too. In addition to this, he was also placed on the Board of PSO, apparently to safeguard his own work.

In addition, some other glaring examples of purposeful placement of people at various positions, either in the companies or on the Boards, are as under:

Arshad Nasr: He served Caltex for over 36 years and was not able to expand its business in a period where PSO grew to above 70 per cent and half-a-dozen more companies made new entries. He is well connected, too (brother-in-law of CBR Chief who happened to be resourceful secretary petroleum). The point is that he was appointed Chairman of the company, but after allegedly making the life miserable for the new enterprising MD, he became the MD also. Can't petroleum ministry see the conflict of interest in having the same person as chief executive and director of the Board? He was also allegedly instrumental in passing Rs4.7 billion per year benefit to ENGRO group by sudden reduction of well head prices of the field and allocating it to ENGRO group the very next day.

Asad Umar: Mr. Umar’s case was of one individual who allegedly violated all rules, particular with reference to Qadirpur Field prices. This is a clear case of conflict of interest by placing a natural gas user / buyer on the Board of OGDCL. Since he knew the details (reservoirs, costing), he was able to get the Qadirpur gas (permeate) allocated to ENGRO.

Pervaiz Kusar: Again a shareholder of Engro, he was placed on the Board of OGDCL, but then after ensuring the Qadirpur gas allocation, moved to PPL to get to know the rest of Pakistan's oil & gas reservoir position. He also remained chairman of PSO for a long time, courtesy of his brother-in-law, the then petroleum minister, Nouraiz Shakoor. It was also mentioned in the business circles that both Pervaiz Kusar and Asad Umar were indirectly supporting a business group that was vying for the purchase of PSO under the privatization program.

They also allegedly reaped money all along by providing inside information to international bidders. Accordingly, these people were able to induct an unknown and inexperienced Yaqoob Suttar as executive director in the Finance Department of PSO, from a very small ENGRO subsidiary company.

This company was built to cater imports of LPG in 1997, and owing to zero LPG imports, this company, Engro Vopak Tank Ltd, remains mostly operationally dead. No wonder why PSO faced so much trouble with reference to its financial position. He had no clue to handle Rs154 billion turnover. According to sources, Yaqoob Suttar was indirectly reporting to the chairman (his ex-boss), thus weakening PSO’s own management.


The other highly questionable appointments made during last decade at key positions were:

Abdullah Yousaf: Ex-Secretary Petroleum and present FBR Chairman, he was allegedly the brain behind the Oil pricing formula and the initial appointments in the Oil and Gas Sector. Courtesy of his benefactors, namely Shaukat Aziz, Lt-Gen (Retd) Hamid Javed, Khalid Saeed, ex-principal secretary, Mohsin Hafiz, seretary in the President Secretariat, he was given the prized position of FBR chairman.

Ahmed Waqar: Ex-Secretary Petroleum and Finance, he did little to add value to his parent ministries. He is also associated with various banks and is always on foreign tours for their board meetings. He allegedly violated rules and regulations in making appointments in the petroleum, and also gave protection to his own and his advisers’ activities geared towards personal interest.

LT-Gen (Retd) Hamid Javed: Ex-COS to the President and present Chairman PARCO, he was allegedly instrumental in covering activities of the oil mafia and saving them from NAB/National Assembly enquiries due to his influence. NAB Chairman Lt-Gen Shahid Aziz had to resign after he unearthed irregularities and corruption of the Oil mafia. Now he has landed himself a cushy position of Chairman PARCO without having any experience in the Petroleum Sector.

Khalid Saeed: The controversial principal secretary of former prime minister, Shaukat Aziz, who allegedly looked after the interest of the Oil Mafia in the Prime Minister’s Secretariat.

Some more examples are as follows:

1. Zafar Ahmed, DG Retail in PSO, Jaleel Tareen, ex-ED Finance, and Zaheer Baig, GM Retail, are all from ENGRO PAK (a less than 35 employees company).

2. Raziuddin, Ex-MD ARL, was appointed MD of OGDCL, from where he was removed for various irregularities after one year. Then he served as consultant to ARL and NRL. He is now heading a department in the National Logistic Cell (NLC).

3. Rasheed Jang, age 63, has been appointed Managing Director of PARCO after the death of Dr. Shahid Haq, and he is tipped to continue serving at the position till the time PARCO is privatized – something that is not going to happen in at least ten years. Brother-in-law of Maj-Gen Rashid Qureshi, Mr. Jang is said to be a mediocre employee whom Dr Shahid Hak made just a DMD of PARCO refinery.

4. Feroz Cowasjee, a regular employee of Shell Pakistan, was placed as Secretary-General OCAC for three years, and later appointed in another public sector organization, PARCO, as DMD Finance without any approval. Another Secretary-General of OCAC, Abid Saeed Ibrahim, was also an ex-employee of Shell Pakistan. He, too, allegedly served the interests of Shell and then went back to his parent company.

5. Ibrar Bukhari, Hakeem Siddiqui, Muhammad Idrees were all reappointed in PSO after retirement in 2001 till December 2005. They were removed from service on a complaint by Petroleum Standing Committee. Now all of them have been placed in BOSICOR Refinery and OGRA. Idress came back to PSO (in 2007 till date) and God knows what he does now.

9. Col Saeed Anwar and Gp-Capt Shehzad Manzoor were given three promotions in three years by none other than Tariq Kirmani (supported by his team members like Kalim Siddiqui and Jalees Siddiqui). Both of them were appointed in 2001. Both were in charge of security and dealings with NAB, FIA, and Ministry of Petroleum etc.

10. Kaleem Siddiqui, formerly a Caltex employee, was appointed Executive Director of PSO in 2001. Several PSO employees of high caliber have reportedly left due to his alleged autocratic behavior and corrupt practices.

11. Jalees Siddiqui, previously working with Phillips Electrical Company, has been made MD of PSO. Appointed in 2001 as GM Human Resource and later made executive director, he has zero experience of oil & gas companies. Brought in by Tariq Kirmani, Mr. Siddiqui, in a classic move, was made acting MD with no background of running an oil company. He served at the position for about 2 years and then was regularized as MD and CEO. PSO suffered great loss by losing good people in the past 3-5 years.

12. Likewise, Tariq Kirmani again planted his CFO Mohammad Aleem, who is also over 60 years of age, in PSO. He joined the PSO during the caretaker government of Mohammedmian Soomro, who did not have the agenda for these important appointments, so much so he was able to appoint all his close buddies with irrelevant experience on the Board of Oil and Gas, and has been changing them like he is shuffling a pack of cards.

Now, here comes the dilemma of the greatest order for Pakistan and is explained below to the best of information and knowledge:

Dr. Akram Sheikh: Biggest turn off for not only the officials of other ministries but also the private or public sector representatives. He and the previous energy adviser to PM (Mr. Mukhtar, to be separately discussed) are top contenders for the award of "good for nothing". Mr. Sheikh is around for the past 40 years, and record shows he can't even organize a meeting properly. He has proved to be incapable of managing PSDP or inculcating disciplined approach for its expenditure.

Mukhtar Ahmed: He was picked up by Usman Aminuddin in early 2000 and placed as MD SSGCL for 3 years period. In a surprising move, (some say by President's involvement), he was again imported from Manila and since he was not given equivalent status of any minister, so he thrived on calls etc. He made an Islamabad-based consultant, Hagler Bailey, millionaire by using their good office for spying, intelligence and preparing heaps of reports (none proved beneficial for Pakistan). He happened to be a member of Pakistan delegation under the petroleum secretary, and all his tenure he traveled across the world for no purpose but to serve his own ends. His towering claims did no good to the country's dwindling economy and as was expected, he ran away before being caught for damaging the energy industry.

In addition, we have several other blatant examples of conflict of interest, for instance, WAPDA chief is now care taker W&P minister; no one knows why? UAE based ambassador is caretaker petroleum minister -- to do what? One condition of 65 years of age for board member of public sector companies has been done away with in no time to accommodate Abbas Gilani as SSGC chairman, Farooq Rehmatullah on PSO board, Yasin Malik as PSO chairman, major Rabbani on several boards, and Khaishgi (over 72 years) on the boards of prized companies, and the list goes on and on................

"UNQUOTE"