ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court has summoned 222 firms and companies next month for their alleged involvement in getting non-performing loans (NPLs) worth billions of rupees written off by commercial banks.

The industrial units have been asked to ensure their presence before the apex court on June 8 and submit their replies before the next hearing.

The apex court had initiated suo motu proceedings in 2008 on press reports that the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) had quietly allowed commercial banks to write off NPLs under a scheme introduced by the regime of former army chief and ex-president retired General Pervez Musharraf.

Soon after the October 2002 elections, then finance minister Shaukat Aziz and his financial team at the SBP had approved the loan write-off scheme. Subsequently, the then SBP governor issued a circular. Instead of launching an effective campaign for the recovery of the NPLs, the SBP offered the incentive scheme for the banks/development finance institutions (DFIs) in October 2002 for writing off loans of the organisations showing “loss” for three years. The beneficiaries included textile, food, beverages, agriculture, pharmaceutical, plastic, paper, sugar, transport, steel, chemicals and cement industries.

Headed by Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar, a division bench of the apex court took up the suo motu notice of the matter on May 13 and issued notices to the firms and companies after considering the recommendations given by a three-member commission.

The commission, headed by former Justice Syed Jamshed Ali Shah, had released its report on a total of Rs87billion loans written off by banks from 1971 to 2009.

Billions of rupees waived under the scheme introduced by the Musharraf regime in 2002

The Supreme Court on Feb 20, 2013 ordered the authorities to make the 2,200-page report in three volumes public. According to the commission report, a total of Rs87billion loan was waived over the past four decades. From 1971 to 1991, a sum of Rs2.3 billion had been waived, while the remaining Rs84.621 billion had been waived between 1992 and 2009.

In the voluminous report, the commission had regretted that it examined 740 cases but despite its best efforts, the banks and DFIs did not provide information on loans sanctioned or written off on “other than business considerations”. It added that the bankers were either afraid of politicians or civil/military bureaucracy, or were privy to sanctioning of loans or factually the quantum of such loans was not high.

The apex court in its May 13 order held that the commission constituted by the apex court reported that the loans had not been written off in accordance with law. The SC bench decided to issue notices to 222 companies as per details provided in the commission report’s volume-II on written-off loan against which action was also recommended.

The 222 beneficiaries had secured loans from eight banks and development finance institutions — Bank of Khyber (BoK), Habib Bank Ltd (HBL), National Bank of Pakistan (NBP), United Bank Ltd (UBL), Industrial Development Bank of Pakistan (IDBP), Pak-Libya Holding Company, NIB Bank (now MCB), SME Bank and Zarai Taraquaiti Bank Ltd (ZTBL).

The companies that secured loans from BoK are M/s Afghan Ghee Industries, M/s Imala Ghee Mills and M/s Shahlala Plastic Industries, according to the commission report.

From the NBP, the companies which managed to get their loans written off are M/s Adamjee Garments Industries, M/s Adamjee Industries Ltd, M/s Al-Asif Sugar Mills Ltd, M/s Aleem Sons (Pvt) Ltd, M/s Al-Hassan Enterprises (Pvt) Ltd, M/s Ali’s Knitwear, M/s Al Shams Industries (Pvt) Ltd, M/s Aslam Taxtan, M/s Associated Ind. Garments Ltd, M/s Attock Engineering (Pvt) Ltd, M/s Attock Textile Mills Ltd, M/s Ayyaz Textile Mills Ltd, M/s Balochistan Manufactures Ltd, M/s Batala Ghee Mills (Pvt) Ltd, M/s Bawany Industries Ltd, M/s Bela Ghee Mills Ltd, M/s Chaudhry Electrodes Ind. Ltd, M/s Chauhan Vegetable Ghee Mills Ltd, M/s Choti Textile Mills Ltd, M/s Crescent Jute Products Ltd, M/s Digital Communication (Pvt) Ltd, M/s Electronic Information and Energy System, M/s Expo International Pvt Ltd (Taj group), M/s F.F. Cans (Pvt) Ltd, M/s Fatima Food Industries, M/s First Tawakkal Modaraba, Foot Care (Pvt) Ltd, M/s Frontier Pharmaceutical, M/s Glamour Textile Mills Ltd, M/s Haji Mohammad Ismail Mills Ltd, M/s Harrapa Textile Mills, M/s Ice Pak Limited, M/s Jahangir Fabrics (Pvt) Ltd, M/s Kashmir Polytex Limited, M/s Nick Fung Textile Company, M/s Kunzan Textile Mills Ltd, M/s Mehr Dastgir Leather Ind. Ltd, M/s Mehr Dastgir Spinning Mills Ltd, M/s Metro Garments and Hosiery Ltd, M/s Mumtaz Shabaz Textile, M/s Myco Industries, National Garments (Pvt) Ltd, M/s Oberoi Textile Mills Ltd, M/s Pak Green Fertilizer Ltd, M/s Pakistan National Textile Mills, M/s Pak Daud Cement, M/s Pak Land Cement Pvt. Ltd, M/s Paras Textile Mills Ltd, M/s Polysacks (Pvt) Ltd, M/s Power Textile Industries Ltd, M/s Quality Steel Works Ltd, M/s Quality Weaving Mills Ltd, M/s Qurel Cassettes (Pvt) Ltd, M/s Rafique Textile Mills (Pvt) Ltd, M/s Rakshani Paper Board Ind, M/s Rehmat Industries, M/s Reshi Textile Mills Ltd, M/s Saadi Cement (Dewan group), M/s Saigal Ghee Mills Ltd, M/s Sak Garments & Hosiery Ltd, M/s Shama Textile Industries (Pvt) Ltd, M/s Sheikhoo Cooking Oil Mills Ltd, M/s Sidra Rice Mills (Pvt) Ltd, M/s Siftaq International Limited, M/s Siraj Steels Ltd, M/s Spectrum Chemicals (Pvt) Ltd, M/s Taj Solvex (Pvt) Ltd, M/s Taymoor Spinning Mills Lt, M/s Ulbricht’S Pak (Pvt) Ltd and M/s Zeenat Marble Industries.

Likewise, the companies which got their loans written off from HBL are M/s Abbas Engineering, M/s Abbas Steel Industries (Pvt) Ltd, M/s Adamjee Garments (Pvt) Ltd, M/s Ahmed Food Industries (Pvt) Ltd, M/s Ajax Industries (Pvt) Ltd (Adamjee Group), M/s Al-Abbas Fabrics (Pvt) Ltd, M/s Alif Textile Industries Ltd, M/s Al-Jadeed Textile Mills Ltd, M/s Allama Textile Mills Ltd, M/s Al-Muqeet International, M/s Alpha Special Steel Casting, M/s Ashraf Impex and M.H. International, M/s Aslam Cotton (G&P) Factory, M/s Ayaz Textile Mills (Pvt.) Ltd, M/s Aziz Spinning Mills (Pvt) Ltd, M/s Bolan Beverages (Pvt) Ltd, M/s Continental Beverages (Pvt) Ltd, M/s Continental Rice Mills, M/s Dascon (Pvt) Ltd, M/s Fabritex Industries, M/s Farooq Ahmed Cotton Mills Ltd, M/s Ghulam Mohammad Dossul and Company, Golden Valley Trading Co. Ltd, (Adamjee Group), M/s Harrapa Textile Mills Ltd, M/s Ibex Textile Mills, M/s Industrial Sacks (Pvt) Ltd, M/s Ink Chemicals (Pvt) Ltd, M/s Iram Textile Mills Ltd, M/s Jam Sher Ali Khan, M/s Kaisar Arts & Krafts Ltd, M/s Kakasian Feeds (Pvt) Ltd, M/s Kakasian Oil (Pvt) Ltd, M/s Kakasian Packages, M/s Karim Cotton Mills Ltd, M/s Karim Silk Mills Ltd, M/s Kashif Steel Industries (Pvt) Ltd, M/s Kassam Sons, M/s Dhedi Ind. (Kassam Group), M/s Khalil Jute Mills Ltd, M/s Kiran Enterprises, M/s Kotri Textile Mills Ltd, M/s KPL Papers, M/s Kurdistan Trading Co, M/s Kwality Paper, M/s Latif Shakir Textile Mills Ltd, M/s Lion Steel Industries, M/s M.K. Fast (Pvt) Ltd, M/s M.S. Sports Wear, M/s Madina Paper and Board Mills Ltd, M/s Marrium Garments (Pvt) Ltd, M/s Marvi Industries, M/s Mercury Garments, M/s Milkways Limited, M/s Mountain Valley Water (Pvt) Ltd, M/s Mubarak Textile Mills Ltd, M/s Muhammad Farooq AR, M/s Naqi Beverages, M/s National Auto Bulbs (Pvt) Ltd, M/s National Woollen Mills, M/s Nature Farm Products (Pvt) Ltd, M/s Niaz Knitwear (Pvt) Ltd, M/s Novelty Fabrics Limited, M/s Nutripak Food Industries Ltd, M/s Orient Rice Mills (Pvt) Ltd, M/s Pak-Asia Industries (Pvt) Ltd, M/s Pakistan National Textile Mills, M/s Paper Chem (Pvt) Ltd, M/s Paper Packaging (Pvt) Ltd, M/s Petro Commodities (Pvt) Ltd, M/s Prove’nco (Pvt) Ltd, M/s Prudential Textile Mills, M/s Qasim Textile, M/s Qayyum Spinning Mills Ltd, M/s Rabka Breeding Farm, M/s Razik Engineering, M/s Reliable Business Associate Group, M/s Sahil International, M/s Sakhi Silk Mills (Pvt) Ltd, M/s Sarbaz Traders, M/s Schon Knitwear, M/s Service Fabrics, M/s Shafiq Textile Mills Ltd, M/s Shakir Latif Industries, M/s Shepherd and Shepherd (Pvt) Ltd, M/s Sinsas Enterprises Ltd, M/s Taha Spinning Mills Ltd, M/s Thermax Pakistan (Pvt) Ltd, M/s Tobacco Industries, M/s Yasmeen Weaving Mills Ltd, M/s Zahid Rajput Developers, M/s Zamir Textile Mills Ltd and M/s Zar Jabeen Textile Mills.

The companies which got their loans written off from the IDBP are M/s Azeem Food Industries Ltd, M/s Bela Ghee Mills Ltd, M/s Big Mak Foods Ltd, M/s Century Industries (Pvt) Ltd, M/s Hakim Textile Mills Ltd, M/s Hala Spinning Mills Ltd, M/s Jet Era Textile (Pvt) Ltd, M/s Kraft Kit (Pvt) Ltd, M/s M.S. Enterprises Ltd, M/s Misto Industries Ltd, M/s National Video Industries (Pvt) Ltd, M/s Pak Absorbent Inds (Pvt) Ltd, M/s Pak Weavers (Pvt) Ltd, M/s Reshi Textile Mills Ltd, and M/s Rubicon Industries (Pvt) Ltd.

From NIB Bank (Now MCB), those who got their loans waived off are M/s Frontier Dextrose, M/s Gadoon Synthatics, M/s Multiwhite Blocks and M/s Sindh Textile Industries.

Similarly, the beneficiaries who managed to get their loans written off by PLHC were M/s Bella Chemicals, M/s Chakwal Chemical, M/s Ferro Alloys, M/s Northern Chemicals and M/s Solvex Industries.

From SME Bank, companies which got their loans written off are M/s Dynasty Hotel, M/s Flower Oil Mills, M/s Jaguar Knitting (Pvt) Ltd, M/s Monarch Knitwear, M/s Pasban Soap Industries, M/s Salar Textile Mills and M/s Sharik International.

The beneficiaries whose loans were waived off by UBL are M/s Mehr Din Pak Industries, M/s Nabeel Fibre Ltd, M/s Peshawar Pipe Mills and M/s Rahim K. Sheikh Transporters.

Zarai Taraquaiti Bank Ltd (ZTBL) wrote off the loans secured by M/s AM Pak Dairies Pvt Limited, M/s A-One Chicks and Feed Mills, M/s Batrax (Pvt) Limited, M/s Compact Particle Board, M/s Farooq Habib Textile Mills, M/s Fiber Board Industries, M/s Imran Oil Extraction Limited, M/s Kabir Fertilizer Limited, M/s Kiran Sugar Mills Limited, M/s Langar Sulemani Industries, M/s Mian Muhammad Sugar Mills, M/s Milkways Limited Lahore, M/s Monno Dairies Pvt Ltd, M/s Mubarak Dairies, M/s Multan Edible Oil, M/s Pak Green Fertilizer Limited, M/s Pakpattan Dairies Limited, M/s Punjnad Polypropylene, M/s Quantic Leather Craft, M/s Ravi Agricultural and Dairy, M/s S.S.Oil Mills Limited, M/s Shan Feed Mills Limited, M/s Suraj Mukh Company Ltd, M/s Techno Agricultural Industries and M/s Transtech Pvt Limited.

Published in Dawn, May 19th, 2018