ISLAMABAD: In compliance with the Public Accou­nts Committee’s (PAC) direction, the Ministry of Industries and Production has asked the Pakistan Steels Mills (PSM) CEO to submit a report on the alleged negligence of senior officials that cost Rs284 billion to the national exchequer.

The PAC took notice of the matter on a complaint filed by the mill’s Peoples Workers Union (PWU) and issued directions on June 1. In a June 7 letter written to the Pakistan Steel Mills, the industries ministry highlighted the events from 2018 to 2022 in the PSM and said it would help “expose the conspiracy nexus between the PTI government and Arif Habib Group.”

The ministry said the PTI government had always blamed the PSM’s failure on its human resources, which was “unjustified” because the mill’s workers were trained and responsible and always acted as per the management’s order.

The PSM is under the administrative control of the Ministry of Industries and Production, with its secretary being the principal accounts officer (PAO), who is responsible for appointing and monitoring the performance of the board of directors (BoD) and top-tier management.

The PWU said in its complaint that after 2018, the BoD mostly appointed non-professional “men of choice who don’t know the functions of an integrated steel plant”.

It lamented that a recommendation made to the industries ministry for the post of CEO was for PSM’s revival, but he was neither a metallurgist nor did he have any experience regarding an integrated steel plant.

Therefore, the PWU said, the appointment violated the Pakistan Steel Officers Services Rules, the Public Sector Companies (Cor­porate Governance) Rules 2013 and the Public Sector Companies (Appointment of Chief Executive) Guideline 2015. It also alleged that the industries ministry never monitored the BoD’s and top management’s performance, which was evident from the steel mill’s audited accounts from 2018 to 2021.

While asserting that a CEO was responsible for a company’s profit or loss, the union said the ministry’s disinterest in monitoring the mills’ management performance led to a loss of Rs284bn during the PTI government’s 44-month tenure.

It recalled that during the election campaign of 2018, former prime minister Imran Khan and PTI leader Asad Umar promised that their government would revive the PSM but then “they failed to keep their promise after coming to power”.

The PWU also appealed for the removal of the PSM’s board of directors and management and sought an FIA investigation into the alleged theft of items worth more than Rs10bn and identify those responsible.

Published in Dawn, July 10th, 2022