By
Rauf Klasra
ISLAMABAD:
The Musharraf Government has been caught red handed by one of General
Musharraf’s own advisers, involved in deep corruption, or
deep-sea corruption to be fair.
In a case of earning millions through issuing fishing licenses to
corrupt deep-sea fishing companies, the government has ignored documented
evidence gathered by the Navy Intelligence following an inquiry
conducted by the Navy.
“The
same corrupt companies either with slight change in the names of
their companies or with the same or different names have been issued
Letters of Intent for issuance of licenses for deep-sea fishing
operations,” the Adviser to General Musharraf for Food, Agriculture
and Livestock, M.Shafi Niaz, said in a letter to the Chief of Staff
of the Chief Executive. Click to view
Letter Page1 | Page2
This
becomes the first documented case in the fishing sector against
the Musharraf Government. No action has apparently been taken against
the four companies M. Shafi Niaz named in his letter to the Chief
of Staff. No license has been cancelled till date and the key person
involved, a former Secretary of Agriculture, one Mr Randhawa, has
been named as the chief bureaucrat of the largest Punjab province
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 King's Party of General Musharraf, which he has
been assigned to bring to power through the elections.
According
to a complaint sent to the Government in a letter written by Syed
Salim Khan in June this year, it was revealed that the Agriculture
Minister Khair Mohammed Junejo and others received almost US$ 100,000
for each license issued to a corrupt company. Syed Salim Khan's
letter was also quoted by Adviser Shafi Niaz. Click
to View Letter
General
Pervez Musharraf was expected to inaugurate the deep-sea fishing
operations late in July but security considerations forced him to
abandon the idea. Deep sea fishing started in Pakistani waters by
five out of the 20 licenses issued by the Federal Government on
July 24, officials announced. Click
to View Report
The
four companies found involved in corruption by the Judge Advocate
General of Pakistan Naval Headquarters in the year 2000 were again
issued licenses, despite the fact that some other companies had
protested strongly against the Government decision.
The
four companies found guilty by Pakistan Navy were:
- Messrs World Trade International
- M/S Shahbaz Traders, West Wharf Karachi
- Mr Changez/Mr Rahim (M/S Sea Hawks Pvt Ltd)
- M/S Siegfried Beacon, Pakistan; M/S Siegfried farms & NAFKO
Pvt Ltd
The
Adviser in his letter said as soon as these names were available,
the Marine Fisheries Department of the Ministry of Agriculture was
approached to get the names of the companies and their owners who
had been issued Letters of Intent for fishing licenses for Zones
II and III.
An
analysis has revealed that the same companies have been issued licenses,
the Adviser said in his letter. He gave specific examples of what
fraudulent methods had been used to obtain these licenses.
Experts
said issuing a license means granting permission to fish millions
of rupees of exportable fish and corruption in this manner could
involves bribes totaling millions of rupees.
The
key issue, however, is that the Musharraf Government did nothing
to undo the corruption even after his own Adviser pointed it out.
Email Story | 
Discuss Story
Back
to top
