Shortcut Parachute Aziz had to write off many loans in his hopeless tenure. Lets hope that the present Govt reconsiders and reverses those write offs, and the Chaudhries of Gujrat (loan defaulters) pay back what belongs to the country.
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2008\06\10\story_10-6-2008_pg7_19
‘Loans of Rs 59.945bn written off during Musharraf’s rule’
** Finance and Revenue minister says govt hopes to collect more taxes by broadening tax net
By Zulfiqar Ghuman*
ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly (NA) was informed on Monday that loans worth Rs 59.945 billion were written off during President Pervez Musharraf’s rule between 1999 and 2007.
Finance and Revenue Minister Syed Naveed Qamar informed the NA of this in response to a question from Mian Abdus Sattar. Responding to various supplementary questions, he said that these loans were written off under different circulars of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP). Of these loans, Rs 46.877 billion were in excess of Rs 0.5 million, while the remaining Rs 13.967 billion were in excess of Rs 0.5 billion, he added.
“If any member thinks that the write-off was unjustified in any particular case, that case can be reconsidered by the government,” he said. The government introduces different schemes under certain circumstances to give relief to loan-takers but that could not become practice, he responded to questioning on the problems poor people encountered when they could not pay back the small amounts they borrowed.
Tax net: Qamar said that the government has decided to extend Capital Gains Tax Exemption for two more years but hoped that the government would be able to collect more taxes from the stock market by broadening the tax net. “At present there are 654 companies listed in the Karachi Stock Exchange,” he added.
Housing society: Separately, the adviser to the PM on Interior said that the Interior Ministry was trying to resolve the issue of Senate Housing Society, adding that it was not a registered housing scheme. “Since this is not a registered society, the ministry cannot do much about this. However, if there are complaints, they should come through the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) or other relevant institutions and the ministry will take action,” he added.
He said he was not opposed to the constitution of a parliamentary committee to investigate the issue of the Parliamentary Enclave if it could lessen the suffering of the people affected by the housing scheme.