Your attention is drawn to
the report of Advisor to the Chief Executive (Mr. M. Shafi Niaz) cited above. In
this report it has been categorically stated:
a. That, according to
information received from the Judge Advocate General of the Naval Headquarters,
on basis of a complete enquiry conducted by the Pakistan Navy, the following
firms/companies have remained involved in corrupt practices during the deep sea
fishing operations:
·
Ms World Trade
International.
·
M/s Shahbaz
Traders.
·
Mr. Changez /
Mr. Rahim of M/s Sea Hawks (Pvt) Ltd
·
M/s Siegfried
Beacon Pakistan
(Pvt.) Ltd, M/s Siegfried farms and M/S NAFKO (Pvt) Ltd.
b. That, on receipt of
this information the Marine Fisheries Department (MFD) was approached to provide
a list of the companies along with their owners to whom Letters of Intent (LOIs)
had been issued for Deep Sea Fishing operations.
c. That, analysis of the
information revealed that the same 'corrupt' companies either with a slight
change in the names of their companies or under the same or different names of
owners have been issued the LOIs for the issuance of licences for deep sea
fishing operations. The details are discussed below:
i.
Ms World Trade
International identified by the Pakistan Navy's enquiry as being involved in
corrupt practices, has been given a licence to operate a stern trawler in
zone-III under a slightly changed name of the company i.e. M/s World Trading and
Fishing (Pvt.) Ltd.
ii.
M/s Shabaz
traders, a company declared corrupt by the Pakistan naval Intelligence has now
been awarded licence for fishing in Zone III, under a slightly different name of
the company i.e. M/s Shabaz Shipping &Trading Company (Pvt.) Ltd, with its owner
Mr. Shahbaz Anwar.
iii. Three other licences have also been issued to M/s Shabaz Traders under names of different
companies understandably owned by the family members of Mr. Shahbaz Anwar viz
Mr. Kashif Anwar, and Mr. Kamal Anwar.
iv.
M/s Sea Hawk
(of Mr. Changez & Mr. Rahim), which has also been identified by the Naval
Headquarters as being corrupt has also been issued licence under the same name
of the company i.e. Sea Hawks (Pvt) Ltd with Mr. Fazalur Rahman as its owners to
operate their fishing vessel in Zone II.
v.
The owners of
the 'corrupt' M/s Sea Hawk (Pvt) Ltd i.e. Mr. Changez and Mr, Rahim have also
been given licences for operating their tuna long liners in Zone III under
different names namely M/s Mehran Fisheries (Pvt) Ltd and M/s Ocean Grace
Fisheries (Pvt) Ltd.
vi.
M/s Siegfried
Beacon Pakistan
(Pvt) Ltd another company named in the Naval Head Quarters report has managed to
obtain one licence each in Zone II and Zone III.
d. That, protests were
made directly to the chief executive by the following companies:
-
Pakistan Tuna Fishing
Company (Pvt) Ltd.
-
Mr. Muhammad Mateen.
-
National Fishing
Corporation, owned by Mr. K. Murad Bey.
-
Mr. Syed Salim Khan.
e. Copies of these
protests were also received by the Advisor's office and were brought to the
notice of the Chief Executive vide UO No F. 3-5/2002-ACE (FA&L) dated 28th May
2002.
Another document attached,
as a link to the South Asian Tribune's article is a complaint-dated 6.6.2002 of
Syed Salim Khan addressed to General. Pervez Musharraf, President, Islamic
Republic of Pakistan. In this communication it has been alleged that:
1. That, a 'bribe'
of US $ 100,000.00 was paid, for the issuance of the LOIs to the already black
listed Deep Sea Fishing Companies.
2. That, the
following have received this illegal gratification:
a. Mr. Khair
Mohammed Junejo, Federal Minister for Agriculture,
b. Mr. Randhawa,
Federal Secretary Agriculture.
c. Mr. S.Q.Raza,
Director General, Marine Fisheries Department.
It is also regrettable that
in spite of the fact that the matter had been brought to the notice of the
President as early as 28th May 2002 vide Advisor to Chief Executive's note UO No
F. 3-5/2002-ACE (FA&L) followed by the complaint of Syed Salim Khan on 6th of
June 2002 and later vide the Advisors UO No F1-/NFDB/Adv/FA&I/2002, dated 6th
July, 2002, the Office of the President has not issued any orders for an
investigation/enquiry into the matter nor for arrest of the culprits involved in
this multi million dollar scam and an even bigger criminal attempt to damage the
environment and the eco balance by destroying the fishing stock in the
territorial waters of Pakistan. Silence for months from the top office is
nothing but an attempt to cover up this scandal.
As a matter of fact one of
the chief culprits, Mr. Randhawa, Secretary Agriculture, has been made the Chief
Secretary, Punjab to 'manage' the October elections for the military regime. The
first thing he did was to secure tickets for his daughter and brother from the
'Kings Party'.
The above discourse and the
documentation exposes gross irregularities and corruption committed by the
officials of the Ministry of Agriculture in connivance and the Marine Fisheries
Department in allocation of Deep Sea Licences to Companies/Firms/
Individuals/black listed for having been involved in corrupt practices in deep
sea operations. In the complaint by Syed Salim Khan it has also been alleged
that the Minister of Agriculture Mr. Khair Mohammad Junejo is also involved in
this sinister allocation of deep sea licences and is a beneficiary to illegal
gratification.
The Pakistan Peoples Party
therefore calls upon NAB to:
a. Launch an
immediate enquiry into the case of graft, corruption and gross irregularities in
the allocation of Deep Sea Fishing Licences causing loss of millions of dollars
to the exchequer and at the same time depleting the available fishing stock in
the territorial waters of Pakistan by tacitly ignoring the corrupt practices
during deep sea fishing operation by the 'favourite' companies identified by the
Pakistan Navy.
b. Initiate
appropriate criminal action based on the enquiry report of the Pakistan Navy
about the persons/firms/companies declared as being involved in corrupt
practices during deep sea fishing operations.
c. Immediately
arrest officials of the Ministry of Agriculture involved in this scandal as well
as the owners/directors of the black listed companies/firms who have been
allocated Deep Sea Fishing Licences.
The Pakistan Peoples Party
calls for:
a. Framing of
appropriate charges of
·
Abuse of
public office,
·
Misuse of
authority,
·
Gross
irregularity in allocation of licences to black listed companies for illegal
gratification,
·
Causing loss
to the public exchequer.
b. Immediate arrest
on above charges of the following:
i.
Mr. Khair
Mohammad Junejo, Minister for Agriculture.
ii.
Mr. Randhawa,
Secretary Agriculture and now Chief Secretary Punjab.
iii.
Mr. M.Q. Reza,
Director General , Marine Fisheries Department.
iv.
Owners/Directors of Ms World Trade International.
v.
Owners/Directors of M/s Shahbaz Traders, M/s Shahbaz Shipping & Trading Company
(Pvt) Ltd. including Mr. Shahbaz Anwar and other family members i.e. Mr Kashif
Anwar and Kamal Anwar who have also been issued licences.
vi.
Owners/Directors of M/s Sea Hawks, M/s Sea Hawks (Put) Ltd, M/s Mehran Fisheries
& M/s Ocean Grace Fisheries (Pvt) Ltd. including Mr. Changez, Mr. Rahim and Mr.
Fazlur Rahman.
vii.
Owners/Directors of M/s Sigrid Beacon Pakistan (Put.) Ltd, M/s Sigrid farms and
M/S NAFKO (Pvt) Ltd.
The Pakistan Peoples Party
also feels that some of these culprits are likely to escape the country to avoid
accountability as such they may be placed on the Exit Control List immediately.
Sincerely,
(Shaikh Mansur Ahmed)
Deputy Secretary General
Pakistan
Peoples Party Parliamentarians
