ISLAMABAD: Despite transferring of 99 percent properties of privatised Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) to Etisalat International Pakistan (EIP), a huge amount $ 799.3 million is still lying outstanding with EIP.
The PTCL no doubt is one of the strongest corporate enterprises not only in Pakistan but also in Asia. “Out of total 3,248 properties, 3,217 have been transferred which is 99 percent of total properties,” a well placed source told this scribe here on Thursday, adding that the purchaser of PTCL was delaying further payments on the ground that all properties included in the Share Purchase Agreement had not been transferred in the name of PTCL.
On June 18, 2005, the government sold 26 per cent PTCL shares to the UAE telecom giant for $2.59 billion with management rights. Under the share purchase agreement (SPA), the payment of the balance amount was contingent upon transfer of clean and clear titles of 3,248 properties by January 2008.
The source said that EIP had paid an amount paid $ 1,799,653,313.31 while a huge total outstanding amount against Etisalat was $ 799,306,686.62. “Till date, out of a total of 3248 properties, 3217 (99%) have been transferred while the remaining 31 (1%) properties cannot be transferred due to various reasons, including legal impediments,” the source observed, adding that pursuant to the Share Purchase Agreement (SPA), the 31 non-transferred properties had been forwarded to EIP as “Second Shortfall” for resolution of the matter as per the SPA and court cases were being handled by PTCL itself.
The source said that SPA was approved by the Cabinet Committee on Privatisation on March 11, 2006 and by the cabinet on April 11 the same year. “Shaukat Aziz was prime minister at that time,” the source observed, adding, “but during the transfer process it was observed that some properties mentioned in the SPA were either under litigation or in possession of private parties and, therefore, could not be transferred”.
The source said that the PC (Confidentiality and Secrecy of Documents) Regulations 2003 prevented the government or any of its agencies from scrutinizing or investigating the privatization of an entity after one year of its completion, therefore, no inquiry had been initiated into this deal.
It is pertinent to note here that former Finance Minister Abdul Hafeez Shaikh was on the record that several inquiries were carried out about this privatization transaction found out that the usual routine of privatization was changed. The way PTCL privatization was carried out in a hurry without taking into confidence the employees and the people opposing it, it was anticipated that it is not going to be so simple an affair.
