The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has revealed that Rs68 billion in levy and penalties from two petroleum companies remain unpaid, prompting concern over regulatory lapses.
During a PAC meeting, the Petroleum Secretary disclosed that one of the firms, Byco, rebranded as Cnergyico after defaulting, Express News reported.
The company has now agreed to pay Rs1 billion annually.
PAC questioned how the company was registered under a new name and summoned the chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) for clarification.
Audit officials stated that the matter had been referred to the Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC), drawing queries from lawmaker Naveed Qamar on the legal basis for such a move.
They added that the case was also sent to the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) and the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).
However, FIA and NAB officials at the meeting were unaware of the case’s current status, prompting PAC’s displeasure.
The committee has summoned NAB Chairman and FIA Director General for an explanation in the next meeting.
Last week, the PAC had pledged to recover Rs2.5 trillion, surpassing the Rs1.6 trillion recovered during the committee’s previous tenure.
The meeting of the PAC was held ounder the chair of Junaid Akbar at the Parliament House. During the meeting, the National Assembly Secretariat briefed the committee on the current status of audit paras and recoveries.
According to the briefing, a recovery of 1.6 trillion rupees was made during the previous term of the PAC.
