BY USMAN KARIM
“I’m wondering why this allowance to make decisions out of ‘good faith’ was not available to politicians and civilians who are languishing in jails for misusing an official car while others get away for causing losses in millions?The CJ of pakistan is faching the reference in SJC for misusing the protocol cars. just imagine how pakistani serving and retired army gernals great(pious) man are doing their job for good faith. The NAB law in Pakistan is applicable only to political leaders and civilians accused of corruption. Serving military officers are exempt from it because, it is claimed, the military has its own internal accountability mechanism. “We live in sweet prison because of the manual of the Pakistan Military Law during our service” is how a former NAB chairman, a three-star general as well, stoutly defended exemption to military officers in an interview published in newspaper on June 20, 2005, after he had retired both from NAB and the military.
The civilians and politicians hauled by NAB for real or imagined crimes are also promptly sent to jail. Investigations and proofs follow later at a pace determined by NAB. The then chairman justified the ‘onus of proof’ with great relish thus: “Yes, it does mean that the corrupt should prove himself innocent”.
But five years later in June 2005 as chairman of the Fauji Foundation, the same former NAB chief was directed to appear before the defence committee of the Senate to answer serious allegations in the sale of Khoski Sugar Mills that had come to light in the National Assembly in reply to a question asked by a female MNA belonging to the treasury benches. He refused saying that the Fauji Foundation was a private concern and that the Senate body had no business to ask him any questions. The yardstick of proving innocence appeared to have changed now as the hunted was a former senior military officer. “Judge not so that ye shall not be judged”.
Retired military officers, though not exempt from NAB, have also been exempted from effective accountability through the device of unending investigations. In reply to a Senate question on December 5, 2003, NAB named fourteen uniformed officers working in civil departments that also included one ex-lieutenant general as being ‘under investigation for accumulating assets beyond means’. Three years later when NAB was asked again about the status of the case it replied: “Investigations are still continuing”. Meanwhile the accused roam free.
To these familiar devices has now been added yet another device, ‘good faith’. True, that ‘honest mistakes’ and ‘good faith’ must be recognised as basic to the concept of justice with compassion or ‘adl bil ihsan’. But it seems that in the Islamic Republic only former generals are entitled to ‘adl bil ihsan’.
Those who seek reprieve on grounds of ‘honest mistake’ and ‘good faith’ must possess very high standards of morality. In 1995 a scandal broke out about the American chief of naval operations, Admiral James Boorda. The case was about whether the admiral should have won a small bronze star that cost less than a dollar. His supporters said he was entitled to wear it. His detractors however insisted that technically he was not entitled to wear it. Appearing before inquiry committee Boorda called it and honest mistake’. The inquiry committee agreed that Boorda had made a mistake in wearing the medal even if it was an ‘honest’ one. The admiral who had a great sense of honour saw a personal shame and dishonour in it and shot himself with his service gun.
As I juxtaposed and placed together the admiral and the generals on my minds canvas, an anguished cry leapt from the depth of the heart and it said: “Weep Pakistan, weep”.
The new report reveals that the US$100million deal was struck by then Railways Minister Lt-General (retd) Javed Ashraf Qazi who signed a deal with China on credit-basis and claimed at the time that the import of these new engines would revolutionise the railways system in Pakistan.
The report also reveals that the National Security Council (NSC) and the Cabinet approved the procurement of 69 Locomotives for Pakistan Railways during a joint session presided over by General Pervez Musharraf. Loans could not be secured from donor agencies because of the imposition of martial law in Pakistan, so it was decided that the locomotives would be acquired on the supplier’s credit.
Hence, an international tender with financial package was invited in December 2000 for procurement/manufacture of 69 locomotives. Technical offers opened on March 15, 2001 and the following firms participated in the tender: MS Dongfang Electric Corporation China, MS China National Machinery Import and Export Corporation China, MS General Motors USA and MS Tabani Corporation Karachi.
The offers of General Motors and MS Tabani Corporation Karachi were non-responsive because they were without earnest money. The remaining two offers with financial packages were processed through normal tendering process and the offer of MS Dongfang Electric Corporation China was accepted. The manufacturers of these locomotives were MS Dalian locomotives and Rolling Stock Works who are one of the leading manufacturers in China. Strangely, the Auditor General of Pakistan has been silent and disinterested in the issue. At the recent subcommittee meeting, auditors sat around tight-lipped, not joining in the discussions. It was the federal secretary railways Shakeel Durrani who raised the most scathing questions. “Lt-Gen Javed Ashraf Qazi was then minister of railways, Lt-Gen Saeed Zafar was secretary railways and General Butt was GM Railways. If you are serious in probing this issue, these three generals needs to be summoned and grilled,” said Durrani. Other PAC members did not follow up on this demand and remained quiet.
However, Durrani then contradicted himself by saying: “If I were secretary at the time the deal was made, I would have re-advertised the tender to get more viable bids for the import of engines for Pakistani railways. This deal was struck because there was only one bid from China and we took it. This was the time right after the 9/11 attacks and no one was ready to offer Islamabad a loan. Given that, the only option left was to seek a loan from China and buy these engines.”
Surprisingly, this line of argument had everyone convinced; no one considered the fact that the deal with China was struck in 2000, much before the 9/11 attacks in 2001! Also, after the attacks, things began to improve for Pakistan: economic sanctions were lifted and financial aid started pouring in from Western countries and lending agencies.
Earlier, then-federal minister for railways Shamim Haider submitted the name of former chairman of Pakistan railways Lt-Gen (retd) Saeedul Zafar to the senate during a question-answer session on the scam. The question was raised by PML senator Kalsoom Perveen who wanted to know who was responsible for the purchase of engines from China on commercial and supplier credit. Her intervention was followed by a heated debate over the details of the deal, with most senators refusing to accept Haider’s justifications for it.
Later, Haider, in a written reply to the senators, said that the deal, which has caused the country a major financial loss, was approved by Lt-Gen Zafar. However, observers say that being the railways minister himself, Haider should know that such deals cannot be finalised by the secretary or the chairman without the approval and consent of the minister.
“It is unfair of Haider to hold Zafar accountable and not Javed Asharf Qazi who was the minister at the time. Obviously, the deal could not have been reached without Qazi’s knowledge,” said one observer. Expectedly, after the senate session was over, Zafar strongly disapproved of the official senate report in which he was singled out as being responsible for the deal with the Chinese manufacturers.
“Those accusing me of getting into a shady deal should not forget the circumstances in which the deal was finalised. At the time no country would lend a single penny to Pakistan. We were lucky that the Chinese were willing to get into such a deal with us and supply us with credit to buy the engines,” Zafar had told TFT. “I am shocked to see that the Railways minister has singled me out in this manner when he should know, as an incumbent minister himself, that multi-million dollar deals cannot be agreed upon without ministerial consent,” he added.
Zafar also pointed out that checking the reliability and durability of imported items was the job of the railways technicians and experts who visited China several times and returned satisfied with the quality of engines Pakistan was preparing to import.
“The decision to import the engines was taken after several meetings were held and all aspects of the deal discussed,” Zafar said, adding: “All sides, from the financial to the technical feasibility of the project, were discussed and debated by an entire team which is why I cant understand why Haider claims that I am solely responsible for the deal.”
Zafar, who is presently heading NEPRA, was chairman of Pakistan railways when the deal was cut with the Chinese firm. Even though he was granted a two-year extension in his contract as chairman Railways and secretary ministry of Railways by prime minister Zafraullah Khan Jamali on the orders of General Musharraf, within a few months, Jamali himself terminated Zafar’s contract.
Insiders said ex PM Jamali’s ouster of Zafar greatly annoyed Musharraf who has close personal ties with the former railways chairman. Jamali also showed the door to Farhat Hussain, another close family friend of General Musharraf’s. Hussain was then the secretary ministry of labour, manpower and overseas Pakistanis. In fact, many observers believe that the ouster of these close friends of Musharraf’s was one of the causes of Jamali’s fall.
A new development on this issue was that Pakistan will have to get German experts to fix the defective engines because the Chinese can’t rectify their own machines. The help of Germans engineers has been sought to modify the exhausts of these engines in order to improve their performance. With US$100 million already spent on this project, insiders say a lot more money will be spent on this new contract with the German company. The Chinese Locomotives and Coaches are about Sixteen Inches wider than the Original Pakistan Railway Coaches which are identical in Width and Height to the Indian Coaches.
As such Pakistanis had to Knock-Off about 9-12 Inches from the Paltforms, Edge so that the Chinese Built Rolling Stock could enter the Platforms as well as pass non-stop from wayside stations.
Thus when the Non-Chinese Original PR Trains enter the Platform there is a 9-12 Inches Gap and as such the announcement “Gapoon Ko Maind Karo” is continuously made as there were a number of cases of the Pakistani Train Passengers “Falling” in the Gap between the Platforms and the Original Coaches Pakistan to probe $100 millions locomotive scam. 14 Apr 2006 The Pakistan government is probing a scandal surrounding the $100 million purchase of 69 Chinese locomotives that are too heavy to run on tracks in this country.
Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz ordered the probe after it was revealed that the 3,000-horsepower locomotives weigh 140 tonnes, but local tracks can withstand only up to 132 tonnes of weight, reports said.
The deal, with a Chinese suppliers’ credit of $100 million, was signed when Gen (retired) Javed Ashraf Qazi, presently the education minister, headed Pakistan Railways.
The deal, which was discussed in detail by parliament’s Public Accounts Committee, caused uproar in the senate.
The disclosure that top railway bosses had sanctioned the deal despite the locomotives being unfit for Pakistani rail tracks came at the second meeting of an inquiry team appointed by the Prime Minister.
According to documents, investigators were informed that railway bosses had overlooked the fact that the Chinese locomotives could not operate on local tracks.
The weight factor apart, the Chinese locomotives could operate at speeds of 105-110 km per hour. However, Pakistan’s railways system was not fit for such high-speed operations
A US$100million deal was then signed with MS Dongfang Electric Corporation, China on November 8, 2001 under which 69 DE locomotives and 3-year maintenance spares would be imported by Pakistan. Eight CBU locomotives of 3000 HP were received in July 2003 and 7 of 2000 HP were received in August 2003. Eight SKD kits of 3000 HP locomotives were received in September 2003, which have since been manufactured and are online.
Another 8 SKD kits of 3000 HP locomotives were received at the locomotive factory in Risalpur at the end of December 2004 and were in the process of being manufactured and assembled. In total, 31 locomotives and kits have been received so far while 38 kits have still to be delivered.
The inquiry report says the performance of these locomotives in their first six months of operation was not satisfactory. A number of teething troubles were experienced resulting in an increase in the incidents of locomotive failure. Specifically, on February 1, 2005, cracks were noticed in the welding seams of the under-frames of 3000 HP locomotives and 9 out of 16 DPU-30 locomotives were withdrawn from service.
The matter was immediately reported to the manufacturers and suppliers who promptly deputed their high-level technical experts to analyse the problem and devise a solution. The experts, in a report, said they would strengthen weak areas of the under-frames of the 3000 HP locomotives already supplied to Pakistan.
Also, a high-level committee of five senior engineers of Pakistan Railways recommended that the warranty/guarantee of all strengthened under-frames be extended to another term of five years after repair. This would be sufficient time to detect any shortcoming in the strengthened/modified under-frames.
However, Pakistan Railways did not agree to the solution of these experts and instead said that under the warranty clause of the contract, the defective under-frames be replaced gratis. Railways officials demanded a fresh warranty of 5 years for the repaired under-frames and suspended the import of the 38 locomotives that still had to be delivered by the Chinese firm. In fact, the issue turned sensitive enough to summon the Chinese Ambassador to Pakistan, who assured that the concerns of Pakistan Railways would be dealt with adequately.
In the meantime, having refused to let Chinese engineers fix the problems in the exhausts of the imported locomotives, the railways ministry was contacted by German manufacturers who have now suggested some modifications in the exhaust piping to avoid damage to the exhausts.
While the German experts have assured Pakistan Railways that the performance of the exhausts would be improved, the real problem not being addressed relates to the authorisation and clearance of defective engines leading to substantial revenue losses
The Public Accounts Committee of National Assembly is under serious pressure to revive the otherwise ‘settled’ issue of the financial loss of over US$100 million Pakistan had to face because of defective railway engines it purchased from China (see TFT stories: “Germans called in to fix Chinese problem”; August 19-25, 2005 and “Railways minister holds former chairman responsible for bad deal;” September 30 - Oct 06, 2005).
Under an agreement signed with China in 2003, Pakistan Railways purchased 69 locomotives, of which Pakistan Railways delivered 15 as completely built units and are in use. The remaining 54 are to be built at Pakistan Railways’ locomotive factory. The Chinese locomotives are 37% cheaper than the European locomotives.
Some in Pakistan have been criticizing the faulty locomotives purchased by Pakistan Railways from Dong Fang Electric Corp of China. It is surprising that Pakistan Railways decided to purchase 45 more 2,000-3,000-horsepower locomotives from the same company. The company is willing to redesign the already-delivered 30 locomotives of the original order, such that the under frame is strengthened and the weight reduced to less than 140 tons.
26 a sub-committee of the public accounts committee of the National Assembly took up investigations into the irregularities in the purchase of Chinese locomotives for $100 million. The locomotives were purchased in 2001 when a retired three-star general was the minister in charge,( currently minister for education in askari Pakistan)gernal Javed ashraf qazi another retired three-star general was a chairman railway and a former two-star general was a general manager railway.
The issue was first raised in the Senate 2005 year upon which the prime minister ordered an inquiry. Investigations revealed that the purchase had been sanctioned despite the fact that the locomotives were unfit for Pakistani rail tracks — they were too heavy. No international tenders had been floated either. Even the railway officials who attended the meeting said that it was a wrong decision. The chairman railways reportedly said: “If I were secretary Pakistan Railways at the time I would not have signed the agreement”. According to Rauf Klasra’s report in The News of May 27 the chairman railways also named the three generals involved and then challenged: “If you are serious in investigating the issue please summon them and proceed as you like”.
The sub-committee, headed by a retired serviceman Col Ghulam Rasool Sahi MNA demonstrated its seriousness, but how. A ‘mistake’ had been committed, it acknowledged, but quickly dropped the case because the mistake had been made in ‘good faith’.
Retired general cleared in locomotives scam 27 May 2006The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) here on Friday cleared three retired generals including Federal Education Minister Javed Ashraf Qazi in the $98million Chinese locomotives scam, saying the official had struck the deal in “good faith”.
Headed by ruling party MNA, Col (retired) Ghulam Rasool, a subcommittee of PAC exonerated three top retired military officials — Lt-Gen Javed Ashraf Qazi, the then federal minister for railways, Lt-Gen Saeeduz Zafar, the then chairman Pakistan Railways and Lt-Gen Butt, the then general manager administration of PR — in a scandal that had made headlines in the national press recently.
The three officials were facing charges of buying 69 locomotives from China on supplier’s credit at an amount of $ 98million (Rs 5.9 billion approximately) without even trying to know that the locomotives could not operate in Pakistani conditions.
The deal was struck in 2002 and the locomotives were brought to Pakistan only to become inoperative within a couple of years.
Some of the most deadliest recent rail accidents occurred due to the Chinese locomotives and bogies, as they could not run on the Pakistani tracks mostly dating back to the era of British Raj.
After hearing the arguments from the ministry, Mr Sahi said: “Though there was misconduct in the procurement of locomotives, the then administration had made the deal in good faith, therefore, this issue stands settled.”
Another subcommittee headed by the same retired colonel refused to refer to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) a scam in which some military officials including a retired brigadier were involved.
On Wednesday, PPP MNA Qamaruz Zaman Kaira was heading the subcommittee aimed at investigating a privatization scandal dating back to the second tenure of former Prime Minister, Benazir Bhutto.
During its ongoing series of meetings, the PAC and its subcommittees have been unable to fix responsibilities in corruption cases in which military officials are involved.
The subcommittee could not muster courage to fix responsibilities against the three military highups even after railways secretary Shakeel Durrani informed in categorical terms that rules were seriously violated when the deal was struck with China.
“Had I been the chairman railways at that time, I would have never gone for such a deal,” Mr Durrani added.
It is to mention here that the PAC had taken a suo motu action following media reports highlighting loopholes in the deal at a time when 33 of the Chinese locomotives had developed faults.
The railways ministry first lost money on buying defective locomotives from China and now has to shell out more funds to get them rectified by German engineers
The ex Ministry of Railways and currently working minister of education is facing a financial loss of over US$100million because of defective railway engines it purchased from China and which it now has to get German experts to fix because the Chinese can’t rectify their own engines. The help of Germans engineers has been sought to modify the exhausts of these engines in order to improve their performance. A Chinese firm against a $100 million commercial loan to Pakistan manufactured the imported railway engines. However, problems have now been discovered in the engines and the Chinese firm is unable to fix them. Hence, the railways ministry has approached German manufacturer MS Knorr Bremse to help fix the faulty engines. With US$100 million already spent on this project, insiders say a lot more money will be spent on this new contract with the German company
Pakistan railways and the Chinese manufacturing company struck a deal in 2001 for the supply of 69 locomotives to Pakistan at a cost of US$100milion. So far, Pakistan has received 33 locomotives. Most of these developed serious problems within a year of being employed on the tracks and had to be withdrawn. The withdrawal of the engines from local routes caused substantial losses to the railways, forcing the ministry to suspend the import of the remaining locomotives from China.
The ministry also ordered an inquiry into how and why such engines were purchased. The inquiry was recently tabled in the National Assembly Standing Committee on Railways. The report reveals that Islamabad rejected the offer by Chinese manufacturers to repair the defective engines and asked them to replace the defective parts of the engines free of cost.
Intriguingly, however, the inquiry officer has remained silent about important aspects of the scam. Take, for example, the fact that in the inquiry report, a copy of which is with TFT, the inquiry officer has not named the railways ministry officials who approved the clearance of these defective locomotives. There is also no explanation in the report of why Pakistani railways engineers were unable to judge the poor quality of the imported engines at the time of their delivery.
The report also fails to identify whether the clearance of the defective engines was a “deliberate” act, the result of “inefficiency” on the part of concerned engineers or involved some “kickbacks” that might have gone into lining the pockets of a few powerful individuals.
June 04, 2006 Petition seeks probe into railway scam petitioner on sought Supreme Court (SC) directions for the NAB to begin fresh investigations against three former railway officials - all of them retired army officials - who allegedly lost the national exchequer Rs 5 billion in a dodgy deal to purchase locomotives from China.
Petitioner Muhammad Siddiqal Farooq, PML-N central leader, accused the officials of receiving kickbacks and commissions on a deal to purchase Chinese locomotives. He sought court directions for NAB to submit previous inquiry reports against former railway minister Lt Gen (r) Javed Ashraf Qazi, former chairman Lt Gen (r) Saeeduz Zafar and former general manager Maj Gen (r) Hamid Butt. Farooq said that the verdict of the PAC - that the accused officials made decisions in good faith - should be declared void. He said that Pakistan Railways should be directed to submit the complete record of its deal with Chinese exporters and the deal between the Pakistan Army and the Pakistan Railways Carriage Factor. He asked the court to declare the deal malafide and order recovery of the losses from the accused. Shahzad raza
June 01, 2006 ARD slams exoneration of PAC officials
The Alliance for Restoration of Democracy (ARD) has taken exception to the ruling by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) Sub-committee on Railways where the two ruling Pakistan Muslim League (PML) MNAs had forgiven three army generals for the ‘faulty’ deal to buy Chinese locomotives and submitted an adjournment motion with the National Assembly Secretariat seeking debate on the issue.
Three generals including Lt Gen (r) Javed Ashraf Qazi (the then railways minister), Lt Gen (r) Saeed Zafar (the then railways chairman) and Maj Gen (r) Omar Butt (the then railway’s administration general manager) bought 69 locomotives worth $ 100 million in 2001 but the locomotives soon proved a substandard and developed cracks in their main frames.
The auditor general of Pakistan pointed out violations of the rules in buying these locomotives from a Chinese firm, but the two-member PAC sub committee headed by ruling PML MNA Ghulam Rasool Sahi, a retired colonel of Pakistan Army, and Aasyia Azim, a ruling woman MNA of PML, exonerated the generals on the pretext that the deal was done in ‘good faith.’
Railways Secretary Shakeel Durrani said that there were flaws in the process of acquiring the Chinese locomotives, but he too said the deal was done in good faith. The sub committee accepted the secretary’s plea and settled the case.
The adjournment motion signed by 12 MNAs who belonged to ARD parties said that this was for the first time that PAC members chose to settle the issue on the basis of ‘good faith’ instead of logically.
They stressed that there was no rule or law where an audit objection involving billions of rupees could be settled by saying that the loss to the state was done in ‘good faith’.
The MNAs submitted that the committee had tried to hush-up the case against the victims and it should be discussed in the National Assembly. The biggest reason of ousting the CJ OF PAKISTAN IFTKHAIR M CHAUDRY WAS lessening the case against 3 pious gernals, jamila ex PM of Pakistan also paid the price of same case, now CJ chaudry was given message. ANY WORK (decision by judiciary to give relief to bloody civilian) AGINST corrupt army regime will be not tolerated, just see how army gernal, Mushraff through the country in worst turmoil to safe their pious illicit cum corrupt gernals on the planet. It’s eyes opener for bloody civilian society just get up for their right and stop the corrupt regime to murdering the democracy and constitutions of Pakistan. Just one question how will bring these corrupt gernals under accountability is NAB will prosecute them not it’s all only democracy and rule of law will help the civilian to prevent them from such looting and plundering of civilian resource by corrupt regime and gernlas ALLAH SAFE PAKISTAN and poor nation from these monsters.
ABOUT WRITER USMAN KARIM BASED IN LAHORE PAKISTAN [email protected]