Cabinet Division Terminates PTA Member Finance

Cabinet Division has terminated Member Finance Nasrul Karim Ghaznavi of Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) following the verdict of Supreme Court of Pakistan on the case of contractual officials, source in the industry told ProPakistani.

Several news channels reported this news also, however, the notification in this regard is yet to be received by PTA from Cabinet Division.

PTA has said that it didn’t receive anything in writing so far, therefore it isn’t official as of now.

Ghaznavi was accused by his own chairman of causing huge financial losses of Rs7.609 billion to the national exchequer by extending undue favors to some preferred telecommunication companies of the country.

PTA chairman Dr. Mohammad Yaseen prepared an official charge sheet against Member Finance and submitted to Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani by the federal cabinet division, it has been recommended that PTA Member (Finance) SNK Ghaznavi be suspended immediately till the completion of an enquiry to be conducted by the Federal Public Service Commission (FPSC) for having committed gross negligence and misconduct, and causing huge financial losses to the federal kitty.

According to the report, which in fact discusses the performance of the member finance, the national exchequer has suffered a huge loss of Rs. 5.55 billion due to failure in recovery of revenue from Wireless Local Loop (WLL) license holders; Rs. 530.816 million due to non-encashment of Stand By Letter of Credit (SBLC); Rs. 628.93 million due to failure in revenue collection from small companies; Rs820.918 million due to erroneous deposit of Federal Consolidated Funds (FCF) and another Rs80 million loss due to embezzlement.

Ghaznavi, however, in response to questions sent to him by The News claimed in a written reply: All the items in the report were properly replied to the Cabinet Division. Regarding the recovery from WLL license holders they are willing to pay in installments, but because of the economic conditions in the country and slackness in their business, they cannot pay in lump sum. There is no loss to the state because penalty is charged at the rate of two percent per month on the outstanding amount, he maintained.

There was a long internal war reported between Member Finance and Chairman PTA, which is likely to end ultimately after termination of NSK Ghaznavi.