According to an inquiry report available with Business Recorder, the management of Pakistan Agriculture Research Council (PARC) including members of the bidding opening and evaluation committee, inspection committee and former project director have committed gross illegalities and criminal misconduct while awarding the work to the firm for the supply of olive plants.
It says that FIA has registered a case against accused Khaista Khan, owner of M/s Khista Khan Enterprises, Tahir Jamshed Khetran, Assistant Accounts Officer PARC, Waqar Jamshed Khetran, brother of accused Tahir, Abu Bakar Khetran, manager Khaista Khan Enterprises, Razia Sultana, mother of the accused Tahir, and Mehboob Qadir, a bank manager, as they all were found involved in fraud and cheating.
The document further says that during the course of investigation, the accused Bismillah Kakar, Haji Zahir, Haji Shafique, Waqas Ahmed Khetran, owner of M/S Manzil Group, Dr Munir, ex-project director, and Dr Samad, convener and ARI at Ternaab Peshawar, were found in the scam.
It says that after the completion of inquiry of FIA Special Investigation Unit (SIU) Islamabad, initiated on the complaint of Alamgir Ahmed Khan, Joint Secretary of Ministry of National Food Security and Research, it was alleged that as per enquiry report conducted by the subcommittee of Standing Committee of National Food Security and Research, audit of two projects namely 'Promotion of Olive Cultivation for Economic Development and Poverty Alleviation' and 'Promotion of Olive Cultivation on Commercial Scale in Pakistan' was carried out with the co-ordination of NARC in the areas of Khyber Pakhtunkwa (KP), Balochistan, Federally Administrated Tribal Areas (FATA), and Punjab.
The first project was estimated at the cost of Rs 382.15 million in the year 2014 while the second project was executed by the NARC under the federal government at a cost of Rs 2,480.063 million in the same project area.
It was alleged that serious irregularities and illegalities were committed in these project by way of awarding the contracts at exorbitant rates as well as to their favourite firms having no or less experience in the supply of olive plants. Upon these allegations, the inquiry was initiated by FIA SIU Islamabad. During the inquiry it was found that tender for the purchase of 400,000 plants were invited on August 26, 2015 and August 31, 2015. Tender documents were submitted by the five firms and lowest bidder namely M/S RSS Agri and Allied Services was awarded the contract.
These tenders were floated without keeping in view the plantation season, while the bids were technically and financially evaluated without keeping the experience of supplier in case of M/s Manzil Group and Khistan Khan Enterprises. The firm failed to supply the plants within the stipulated time. M/S RSS only supplied 210,000 plants out of total 400,000 plants. A considerable quantity of plants supplied by M/s RSS was rejected for being below the specification, less in size and affected with fungus.
Later on plants of M/s RSS were accepted after treatment. Similarly, the award of tender to M/s Manzil Group was also not properly evaluated and no prerequisite was taken into consideration while issuing the work order.
As per record, the prime activity of Ms Khaista Khan Enterprises is construction of buildings. An account was opened in the name of Razia Sultana in a bank and she was shown as sole proprietor of M/S Khaista Khan Enterprise in the bank record. It is pertinent to mention here that work was awarded to M/S Khaista Khan in December 2014 and at the time this account was not mentioned in the documents as the account of the firm.
The record further reveals that M/s Khaista Khan is not sole proprietor of the firm and abovementioned account was opened for the purpose of fraud and cheating.
Similarly, an increase of up to Rs 10 million was made in the estimated cost of the bid in case of M/S Manzil Group on the recommendation of Riaz Alam, senior scientific officer of NARC, in connivance with other members of the committee and ex-project director.
The enhancement of cost is a clear violation of PPRA Rules because the work order was also issued to the firm which did not qualify for the work and later on the work order was also cancelled.
During inquiry it also transpired that one Abu Bakar, manger of Khaista Khan, Tahir Jamshed, assistant account officer of PARC, Waqar Khetran, Waqas Khetran, and Mehboob Qadir, manager of a bank, are close relatives of one another and in the connivance of one another they got opened this fake account in the name of Razia Sultana showing her the solve proprietor of M/S Khaista Khan Enterprise whereas in fact she is the mother of Tahir Jamshed, assistant accounts officer of PARC.
In this way an amount of Rs 106,486,833 was transferred through five cheques in the account of Razia Sultana and same were enchased fraudulently. A considerable quantity of plant of Ms RSS was rejected but after the treatment, they were accepted. Similarly the plants less in size were also accepted later on. It is to be pointed out that initially no pathologist or entomologist was included in the inspection committee and the inspection of the plants was carried out randomly.
The members of the committee have admitted that Principal Scientific Officer Muhammad Siddique Khan had not inspected the sites for inspection of plants and signed the report at his residence on the instructions of Nasir Mehmood Cheema, project director, and Dr Samad and Riaz Alam. No payment to Ms RSS has been made so far despite the fact that their plants have been cleared.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2017