The News journalist vindicated

ISLAMABAD: Former finance minister Shaukat Tarin may have sealed the fate of the almost $20 billion LNG deal with French company, GDF-Suez, on Monday when in his written affidavit to the three-member bench of the Supreme Court he confirmed that the controversial contract was awarded after “clear process lapses” and requested the chief justice to order award of a new contract after fresh evaluation of all bidders and proposals.

Tarin in his written statement read out before Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry-led bench confirmed that “there was a clear process lapse when Fauji Foundation/Vitol proposal was not shared with the ECC. Going forward the same should be presented in the next ECC with proper evaluation by the Price Negotiation Committee (PNC) and the independent consultants. Only then the contract should be awarded to the most competitive proposal”.

Pakistan and GDF-Suez were expected to sign the deal on April 15 but now it seems highly unlikely as the SC has set April 14 as the next hearing date and is likely to decide the matter in the light of the critical disclosures of Shaukat Tarin

In his statement, the former finance minister also confirmed the contents of the news report of The News (dated March 29 and titled “a billion dollar scam lands in federal cabinet) which had been the basis of the SC suo moto action. Tarin’s clear cut statement confirming serious irregularities in the award of the multi-billion deal and requesting its scrapping by the SC is tantamount to him castigating the report of the Parliamentary Committee on Petroleum as a deliberate distortion of facts. It may be recalled that issued only last Friday, the committee report had “condemned” the Editor Reporting, The News, who had filed the original news report. May be the same committee will now also display a grace to match their earlier venom and offer an apology to the journalist it had tried discrediting.

Tarin’s written statement in favour of The News story also demonstrated how a nexus of dirty bureaucrats and some parliamentarians tried covering up the massive multi-billion scam by forcibly giving a clean chit to main culprits and bail out a fellow politician.

Earlier, the SC issued notices to top guns of French company GDF-Suez to appear before the court on the next hearing. The CJ also stopped MD FF Lt General (R) Hamid Rab Nawaz from leaving the country after he sought exemption from next hearing of the case on the grounds he had to travel abroad. The CJ observed that he should appear before the court again on April 14 along with other concerned, stating that national interests were more supreme than his foreign trips. Shaukat Tarin’s statement was awaited with great interest by the bench as further proceedings and action solely depended upon his version of the events.

Later, Editor Reporting The News was asked by CJ Iftikhar Chaudhry to further brief the bench about the scam. The court was told that more evidence had been placed on record and which was then read out for the court.

Earlier, an interesting statement was given by MD FF General Nawaz who claimed that he came to know about his firm being the lowest bidder. But, Editor Reporting The News contradicted his statement and told the court this was not true as General Nawaz had been writing letters to everyone after he failed to get the deal on the basis of being the lowest. This was even reflected in the written statement of Shaukat Tarin and minutes of the ECC meeting. Editor Reporting said General Rab Nawaz was now trying to be very “diplomatic” in his statement before the court for some mysterious reasons, otherwise documents presented before the court confirmed how he was wondering from a pillar to post to lodge his protest.

During the course of proceedings, the CJ remarked that even the Public Procurement Rules were not followed to ensure transparency. But, the CJ kept on wondering that why the Petroleum Ministry secretary did not come to attend the proceedings. However, the court was told that Ministry of Petroleum had hired the services of SM Zafar who was still in plane as he was coming from Lahore. But, the CJ asked where were the officials of the Petroleum Ministry and secretary who should have been in the court.

Earlier, the CJ resumed proceedings on his suo moto with Justice Ejaz Chaudhry and Justice Rabbani as member of bench. To the expressed surprise of the chief justice and other judges, Secretary Petroleum Kamran Lashari, GA Sabri and other senior officials of the Petroleum Ministry did not even turn up in the court. The honourable CJ repeatedly asked Editor Reporting whether it meant the Petroleum Ministry did not want to defend its position before the court or to challenge his story. The CJ also wondered aloud why the ministry officials did not turn up to attend the court proceedings despite the fact that a notice was issued to them.

The CJ later directed the Ministry of Petroleum to immediately submit relevant record related to this contract given to GDF-Suez along with the minutes of the meetings, price evaluation committee observations, discussions, recommendations and criteria of selecting every bidder and how the ministry had recommended the names of bidders.

MD FF General Rab Nawaz, Secretary Finance Salman Siddique and Editor Reporting The News were present in the court room. Salman Siddique presented his ministry’s comments and that of Shaukat Tarin. Editor Reporting The News praised Shaukat Tarin before the CJ and said he had proved himself a gentleman who without making it an issue of personal ego had stood with the truth and had stated the facts before the court to help it fulfil the requirements of the justice.

Tarin in his statement produced before the court said “ I chaired the ECC meeting held on January 26, 2010 wherein the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources submitted a summary on Mashal LNG project for the import of LNG. The ECC after due deliberation decided the expansion of PNC with the inclusion of special secretary finance and DG (debt) Ministry of Finance and resubmission of the summary for consideration during its next meeting, after analysis with comparative chart of offers, analysis of the bids with annual cost to evaluate the bids on offer. It was also desired that the consultants (MS Poten & Partners) assessment and recommendation should be made part of the report for ECC. The next meeting of the ECC was held on Feb 9, 2010. The resubmitted summary on the subject gave a comparison of the offers of Shell and GDF-Suez (French company) along with their terms and conditions of the sale of gas and the recommendations of the PNC as well as Ms Poten and Partners. After thorough discussion the ECC decided to approve the lowest of the two bids i.e. offer of GDF-Suez. On the same evening, I received a call from MD Fauji Foundation Lt General Hamid Rab Nawaz who complained about the exclusion of their joint bid with Vitol on the understanding that their price offer was better. Based on this concern, I wrote a note to special secretary Ministry of Petroleum GA Sabri to clarify the exclusion of FF/Vitol from the summary submitted to the ECC. An incomplete response from the Ministry of Petroleum was received on Feb 18. In view of my impending retirement from the job of chairman ECC, I sent a hand written note to secretary cabinet to pursue the clarification from Petroleum Ministry and for placing it for consideration of ECC. I left my office on Feb 28. Till then the ECC meeting could not be convened. Later on after the publication of the news item in the paper, I was contacted by the newspaper correspondent Rauf Klasra to whom I stated the facts as above. I believe that there was a clear process lapse when the FF/Vitol was not shared with the ECC. Going forward the same should be presented in the next ECC with proper evaluation by the PNC and the independent consultants. Only then the contract should be awarded to the most competitive proposal”.

Source: http://www.thenews.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=28285