ISLAMABAD (October 05 2010): The Cabinet Division has turned down the demand of Transparency International Pakistan to get every contract below Rs 100 million checked before its award.
Cabinet Division representative informed the Senate standing committee on petroleum and natural resources on Monday that Transparency International chief Adil Gilani had approached the Cabinet Division to get every contract below Rs 100 million vetted by Transparency International before award.“We sent Transparency International chief’s request to the Prime Minister, which was turned down,” he added. The Senate body took serious notice of Transparency International’s critical performance, terming it as a ‘Blackmail Organisation’. Commenting on the report prepared by Transparency International on a contract awarded by PSO, Committee chairman Sabir Ali Baloch rejected Transparency International observations and said that the motto of Transparency International was nothing but ‘blackmail’. Therefore, institutions must concentrate on doing things the right way.
He directed PSO not to bow to the blackmailing tactics of Transparency International and move ahead focusing on result-oriented work. The committee was informed that “Transparency International chief goes to media with bad intent”. It was also brought to the notice of the committee that Transparency International chief had been dismissed from Karachi Port Trust (KPT) on charges of corruption. Therefore, he has no right to malign public sector institutions.
Petroleum Ministry Secretary Imtiaz Qazi said that the Transparency International chief should extend public apology if his claims of corruption proved baseless. Safdar Abbasi said that after deregulation, the government should strengthen regulators to maintain check over the performance of different institutions. Pakistan State Oil Managing Director Irfan Qureshi said that all rules and regulations described in Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA) were being strictly followed by PSO. – Brecorder
