The Chief Corporate Affairs & Strategy Officer of the affected cellular company informed the LCCI President through a letter that the Punjab Revenue Authority conducted a raid at the regional office of a multinational, attached their accounts, sealed their office in Lahore, harassed their employees including female staff and escorted them out of the premises without giving any opportunity to protect sensitive customers data and equipment.
He further stated that their company is a provider of tele data and financial services. Every day the company impacts the lives of over 40 million Pakistanis and takes pride in socioeconomics contribution to the country which comes in the form of investment that stands above Rs 360 billion, contribution to the national exchequer to the tune of Rs 243 billion and employment creation resulting in over 5,000 direct and hundreds and thousands of indirect and induced jobs.
The letter stated that such extrajudicial practice of Punjab Revenue Authority (PRA) would give a big blow to the efforts of the government aimed at promotion of foreign investment. The LCCI President said no country can even dream about GDP growth until and unless participation of the multinationals in the economic activities. He said action against one of the biggest multinational would irk the foreign investors and they will add Pakistan to their negative list that would hit the economy hard. "How one can even think to attract more foreign investors to the country when existing multinationals are being targeted by the government departments like PRA," he questioned.
Abdul Basit said that foreign investors and private sector of the country should be given breathing space. In the presence of such anti-business tactics, it would be very difficult for the multinationals and private sector to continue with their businesses. He urged the Punjab Chief Minister to take notice of the situation and order for corrective measures as bureaucracy is not aware of the ground realities.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2017