The CEO has also tendered his resignation as Member of the Board of Directors after the PSM Board also granted all necessary authority and powers to the elected Chairman to execute and implement the revival plan and process of PSM. Ashique Ali confirmed to Business Recorder that he is no more CEO or Board member of PSM.
The government intends to expedite efforts to revive PSM after inflicting financial loss of about Rs 15 billion (Rs 1.5 billion per month) to the national exchequer. PSM's liabilities are about Rs 300 billion as the audit of accounts of three years are yet to be finalized.
Though Privatisation Commission (PC) has initiated the process of hiring a consultancy firm to evaluate the offers of private parties which have expressed an interest in revival of PSM, it clearly took the stance in one of the ECC meetings that revival of any entity on Public Private Partnership (PPP) is out of its mandate. Advisor to Prime Minister on Commerce, Textile, Industries and Production and Investment, Abdul Razak Dawood who also attended the Board meeting on September 13, 2019 in Karachi expressed the hope that all the Board members and PSM management will support the newly-elected Chairman to execute and implement the revival plan of PSM. However, insiders claim that the endorsement of newly-elected Chairman by the PSM Board was in "grave violation" of the Companies Act and code of corporate governance rules and it has created a case for penal action against Directors of the Board under Rules and the Company Act in terms of Section 508 of the Ordinance.
On September 13, 2019, in the light of working papers, Corporate Secretary apprised the Board that Ministry of Industries and Production in its notification No.11(11) 2001-LED of September 5, 2019, communicated the federal cabinet's decision of August 27, 2019 for appointment of Aamir Mumtaz from the private sector as member of the PSM Board.
