ISLAMABAD: Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of the Parliament Wednesday directed for investigation of corruption worth Rs 1,181.22 million in Petroleum Ministry during previous regime. During audit of accounts of PPL for the year 2011-12, it was observed that the management sold Early Well Testing (EWT) condensate products to M/s BYCO Petroleum Pakistan Limited (BPPL) from Jan 2010 to June 2011 against above amount without signing formal agreement.
The amount was not booked as doubtful in the accounts of PPL for the year 2011-12. The PAC met here under the chairmanship of Syed Khursheed Shah and attended by other members including Shafqat Mehmood, Dr. Arif Alvi, Shahida Akhtar Ali, Mahmood Khan Achakzai, Sardar Ashiq Hussein Gopang, Muhammad Azam Khan Sawati, Mushahid Hussain Syed and Syed Naveed Qamar.
The official of Ministry of Petroleum informed the body that the above matter was subjudice. The committee asked the ministry about the procedure adopted to grant condensate to any company, on which, the official said most of the companies in the country are crude based.
They said several companies refused to get contract of condensate. However, the committee directed the ministry to pursue the court case vigorously and report the body regarding the current case status. Senator Azam Sawati said the responsible for the irregularities in agreement with BYCO should be booked.
During the meeting, Managing Director Pakistan State Oil (PSO) briefed the committee about the volume of tax imposed on petroleum products in the country.
Referring to an audit para, Syed Khusheed Shah said there were clear instructions that only the matter related to higher than Rs 50 million would be discussed in the meeting.
The committee underlined the importance of structure changes so that the fresh matter could be discussed in meeting. The committee observed that the old matters of 2012-13 were being discussed now in committee meetings.The committee also discussed the audit paras of Ministry of Food Security and Research.
