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| Referance
against Railway Minister |
| Released
by PML (N) Central Information Secretary Muhammed Siddique-ul-Farooque
At a press conference in Islamabad on October 26, 2004 Subject: Complaint
under Section 18 of the National Accountability Bureau Respected Sir, I may be permitted to submit as under: 1. As a citizen of Pakistan I want to bring to your notice certain facts about alleged corruption of Railways Minister Lt. General Javed Ashraf Qazi (retd) committed with connivance of Secretary Ministry of Railways Lt. General Saeed-uz-Zafar, General Manager Manufacturing and Services Major General Hamid Hasan Butt (retd) and Deputy Director Marketing Ms Sumera Hameed as his key subordinates. He is reported to have leased out railway lands worth 40 billion rupees at nominal rent, and has received kickbacks on these deals as well as on purchase contracts worth millions of dollars. It is alleged that the minister siphoned off at least 5 billion rupees in kickbacks and illegal commissions. The details of the dubious deals are as under: Illegal Disposal of Railway Assets The minister has leased out land and property worth about 40 billion rupees, without calling tenders and open bids, to benefit certain parties. The deals were made under advice of one Khalid Naqi, who was appointed Director Marketing at the hefty salary of 2.5 lac rupees per month, including allowances. CNG Project: The minister allotted 80 valuable plots of land around the country on lease for 33 years to one Fazal Qadeer Ajmi for setting up CNG stations. No national or international tenders were called for this lease, nor was any pre-qualification ensured. The terms of lease were unbelievably easy. For instance, the rent of a plot measuring 2,300 sq. yd. at the I. I. Chundrigar Road, Karachi was fixed at 60 rupees per sq. yd., which is a very low rent for that location. No CNG station has been built on any of these plots even after two years of the deal. Meanwhile, Mr. Ajmi, having co-opted Nopadong Company of Thailand, and Messrs. Reco of UAE as his partners, has sold 97 percent shares of the project to the Army Welfare Trust. Mr. Ajmi has been heard claiming that several generals are his golf partners, who provide him protection. Lahore Golf Course: The Minister advised the Marketing Department lease out 125-acre Lahore Golf Course to Mr. Ajmi, who immediately bulldozed adjoining Railway Officers' bungalows on the Canal Bank. Again, the Thai firm Nopadong acted as front for Mr. Ajmi. The demolition of the bungalows was contracted to Hasnain Construction, which has close links with the relatives of General Pervez Musharraf and is involved in the Islamabad-Peshawar Motorway scandal. Faisalabad Rest House: The Railway Officers' Rest House at Faisalabad was also leased to Mr. Ajmi on a nominal rent, and the lessee has already started construction of Dubai Shopping Mall at the site. The shops in the mall are to be sold, and thus the Pakistan Railways would be permanently deprived of the property. Institute Hall: The Railway Institute Hall situated behind Karachi Cantonment Railway Station has been leased for 33 years to Fateh Textile Mills Lahore at 200,000 rupees per month despite that the Railway could earn much more than that under its own management. School Children Hostel: The hostel for school children of the Railway employees at Karachi was leased to the Foundation Public School, whose owner, a lady, is said to be friend of the Railways Minister. Ladies Waiting Rooms: Negotiations are said to be under way for allotting ladies waiting rooms at Karachi City and Cantonment Railway Stations to McDonalds and Pizza Hut. Financial Loss: All the above-mentioned deals, involving property worth approximately 40 billion rupees, were concluded without inviting tenders through the media and open bids. The total amount so far received as rent for this property is not more than 250 million rupees, which is probably less than one percent of its normal rental value. Suspicious Secrecy: The Public Accounts Committee and the Auditor general of Pakistan have been asking for the details of lease contracts of the above-mentioned property, but the Minister has refused to comply. The Corporatization Office at Lahore, which has been set up to convert the Railways into a corporation, has repeatedly requested for the copies of the contracts. It has been told that the contracts are secret and cannot be made public. Dubious Purchases According to reliable sources, Pakistan Railways has entered into purchase of different material and equipment worth about 80 billion rupees under the guidance of the Minister. Track and Slippers: The deal to purchase slippers and track to double the entire railway track of the country was made under very dubious circumstances. Major General Hamid Hasan Butt (retd), General Manager Manufacturing and Services, actively collaborated with the Minister in this deal. He has a close relationship with a contractor of Lahore Rasheed Kalia, who owns a company named Sharon International and is local agent of Austria's little known Vienna firm "Plasser and Theorer". Incidentally, Kalia has been getting major railway contracts for the past three years. When it was decided that the track should be doubled, General Butt called a meeting of concerned officials and asked them to award the purchase contract to Mr. Kalia's parent company in Vienna. The officials were reluctant to do so and requested that such a large purchase should not be made without calling for quotations from other international companies through advertisement. Meanwhile, General Qazi joined the meeting and threatened the officials with dire consequences if they refused to sign the agreement. He is reported to have reminded them that he had been the chief of ISI, and had means not only to sack them but also destroy them with their families through his ISI connections. This threat cowed down the officials and they were forced to sign the agreement. The doubling of the countrywide track would take ten to fifteen years, but the track, slippers, track machines and spare parts have already been purchased under the deal for the entire project. The material has started reaching Karachi, but it will have to be stored, and much of it might rust and damaged waiting for installation. Meanwhile, Pakistan Railways has to pay 5 percent interest on the supplier's credit (on full price of the material) from the date the agreement was signed. Chinese Coaches: Unlike the hush-hush leases and track purchase, the deal for supply of China made coaches got a little publicity when the first 35 coaches arrived in August, 2002 and railway platforms had to be trimmed to accommodate them. The Minister decided to import these coaches despite the fact that the Pakistani factories were fully competent to manufacture the coaches, which have even found many foreign buyers. The 200 million dollars contract for the supply of these coaches was awarded to a Pakistani firm named Interplan on the "advice" of General Qazi's Deputy Director Marketing Ms Sumera Hameed, who was formerly employed by that firm. Again, the details of this deal, including ex-factory price and the commission allowed to Interplan, are being kept secret. 2. The above-mentioned allegations against the Railways Minister are widely talked about among the Railways employees. I am enclosing a copy of Daily Ummat, Karachi dated October 24, 2002, which carries more details of the misdeeds of the minister and his key subordinates. Since General Pervez Musharraf has been claiming that his government has eliminated corruption from top to bottom of the administration, it is all the more necessary that allegations of corruption against a federal minister be thoroughly investigated. 3. I request you to please file a reference under Section 18 of the National Accountability Bureau Ordinance 1999 against Railways Minister Lt. General Javed Ashraf Qazi (retd), Secretary Ministry of Railways Lt. General Saeed-uz-Zafar (retd), General Manager Manufacturing and Services Major General Hamid Hasan Butt (retd), Deputy Director Marketing Ms Sumera Hameed and Mr. Rasheed Kalia for causing heavy losses to the Pakistan Railways and the national exchequer, misuse of power and amassing wealth beyond known legal means. 4. I request you to please put the names of General Qazi, his family members and the accomplices named in paragraph 3 on the Exit Control List (ECL) and their passports be taken into custody to prevent them from tampering with evidence and influencing witnesses, and to block their flight from the country. The minister and all his accomplices should be immediately arrested as per procedure that NAB has been following in other cases of corruption. Meanwhile, all movable and immovable assets of General Qazi, his family and accomplices, including bank accounts, must be frozen pending completion of investigation, and the trial under NAB Ordinance and other relevant laws. Petitioner/Complainant
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