REFERENCE / COMPLAINT NO. XV

Reference dated 8-10-2002 – Irregularities in Allocation of Deep Sea Licences

October 8, 2002

Lieutenant General Munir Hafeez
Chairman
National Accountability Bureau
Chief Executive Secretariat
Islamabad

Subject: Corruption and Gross Irregularities in Allocation of Deep Sea Licences to Persons/Firms/Companies declared Corrupt and Blacklisted by the Pakistan Navy.

Dear General Munir Hafeez,

The South Asian Tribune a US based newspaper in its Issue of 7-15 September has exposed gross irregularities and corruption in allocation of Deep Sea Licences to persons/firms / companies declared as being involved in corrupt practices during deep sea fishing operations in a complete enquiry conducted by the Pakistan Navy.

In this connection the following documents are enclosed:

i. Report published in South Asia Tribune Issue No 7 of 7th September 2002 entitled 'Hard evidence of Corruption in Deep Sea Fishing’.[ – Annexure ‘A’]

ii. Report of Mr. M Shafi Niaz, Advisor to the Chief Executive sent to the Chief Executive through Lt. General Hamid Javaid, COS to the Chief Executive vide Advisor's UO No F1-/NFDB/Adv/FA&I/2002, dated 6th July, 2002. [Referred to in the above article of the South Asia Tribune and appended and reproduced therein as a link file – Annexure ‘B’]

iii. Communication of Syed Salim Khan dated 6.6.2002 addressed to General Pervez Musharraf. [Referred to in the above article of the South Asia Tribune and appended and reproduced therein as a link file – Annexure ‘C’]

iv. Press clipping from DAWN dated 25-7-2002 captioned “Five Vessels begin Deep sea Fishing” – Annex – ‘D’.

Your attention is drawn to the report of Advisor to the Chief Executive (Mr. M. Shafi Niaz) cited above. In this report it has been categorically stated:

a. That, according to information received from the Judge Advocate General of the Naval Headquarters, on basis of a complete enquiry conducted by the Pakistan Navy, the following firms/companies have remained involved in corrupt practices during the deep sea fishing operations:

· Ms World Trade International.
· M/s Shahbaz Traders.
· Mr. Changez / Mr. Rahim of M/s Sea Hawks (Pvt) Ltd
· M/s Siegfried Beacon Pakistan (Pvt.) Ltd, M/s Siegfried farms and M/S NAFKO (Pvt) Ltd.

b. That, on receipt of this information the Marine Fisheries Department (MFD) was approached to provide a list of the companies along with their owners to whom Letters of Intent (LOIs) had been issued for Deep Sea Fishing operations.

c. That, analysis of the information revealed that the same 'corrupt' companies either with a slight change in the names of their companies or under the same or different names of owners have been issued the LOIs for the issuance of licences for deep sea fishing operations. The details are discussed below:

i.Ms World Trade International identified by the Pakistan Navy's enquiry as being involved in corrupt practices, has been given a licence to operate a stern trawler in zone-III under a slightly changed name of the company i.e. M/s World Trading and Fishing (Pvt.) Ltd.

ii.M/s Shabaz traders, a company declared corrupt by the Pakistan naval Intelligence has now been awarded licence for fishing in Zone III, under a slightly different name of the company i.e. M/s Shabaz Shipping &Trading Company (Pvt.) Ltd, with its owner Mr. Shahbaz Anwar.

iii. Three other licences have also been issued to M/s Shabaz Traders under names of different companies understandably owned by the family members of Mr. Shahbaz Anwar viz Mr. Kashif Anwar, and Mr. Kamal Anwar.

iv.M/s Sea Hawk (of Mr. Changez & Mr. Rahim), which has also been identified by the Naval Headquarters as being corrupt has also been issued licence under the same name of the company i.e. Sea Hawks (Pvt) Ltd with Mr. Fazalur Rahman as its owners to operate their fishing vessel in Zone II.

v. The owners of the 'corrupt' M/s Sea Hawk (Pvt) Ltd i.e. Mr. Changez and Mr, Rahim have also been given licences for operating their tuna long liners in Zone III under different names namely M/s Mehran Fisheries (Pvt) Ltd and M/s Ocean Grace Fisheries (Pvt) Ltd.

vi.M/s Siegfried Beacon Pakistan (Pvt) Ltd another company named in the Naval Head Quarters report has managed to obtain one licence each in Zone II and Zone III.

d. That, protests were made directly to the chief executive by the following companies:

Pakistan Tuna Fishing Company (Pvt) Ltd.
Mr. Muhammad Mateen.
National Fishing Corporation, owned by Mr. K. Murad Bey.
Mr. Syed Salim Khan.

e. Copies of these protests were also received by the Advisor's office and were brought to the notice of the Chief Executive vide UO No F. 3-5/2002-ACE (FA&L) dated 28th May 2002.

Another document attached, as a link to the South Asian Tribune's article is a complaint-dated 6.6.2002 of Syed Salim Khan addressed to General. Pervez Musharraf, President, Islamic Republic of Pakistan. In this communication it has been alleged that:

1. That, a 'bribe' of US $ 100,000.00 was paid, for the issuance of the LOIs to the already black listed Deep Sea Fishing Companies.

2. That, the following have received this illegal gratification:

a. Mr. Khair Mohammed Junejo, Federal Minister for Agriculture,
b. Mr. Randhawa, Federal Secretary Agriculture.
c. Mr. S.Q.Raza, Director General, Marine Fisheries Department.

It is also regrettable that in spite of the fact that the matter had been brought to the notice of the President as early as 28th May 2002 vide Advisor to Chief Executive's note UO No F. 3-5/2002-ACE (FA&L) followed by the complaint of Syed Salim Khan on 6th of June 2002 and later vide the Advisors UO No F1-/NFDB/Adv/FA&I/2002, dated 6th July, 2002, the Office of the President has not issued any orders for an investigation/enquiry into the matter nor for arrest of the culprits involved in this multi million dollar scam and an even bigger criminal attempt to damage the environment and the eco balance by destroying the fishing stock in the territorial waters of Pakistan. Silence for months from the top office is nothing but an attempt to cover up this scandal.

As a matter of fact one of the chief culprits, Mr. Randhawa, Secretary Agriculture, has been made the Chief Secretary, Punjab to 'manage' the October elections for the military regime. The first thing he did was to secure tickets for his daughter and brother from the 'Kings Party'.

The above discourse and the documentation exposes gross irregularities and corruption committed by the officials of the Ministry of Agriculture in connivance and the Marine Fisheries Department in allocation of Deep Sea Licences to Companies/Firms/ Individuals/black listed for having been involved in corrupt practices in deep sea operations. In the complaint by Syed Salim Khan it has also been alleged that the Minister of Agriculture Mr. Khair Mohammad Junejo is also involved in this sinister allocation of deep sea licences and is a beneficiary to illegal gratification.

The Pakistan Peoples Party therefore calls upon NAB to:

a. Launch an immediate enquiry into the case of graft, corruption and gross irregularities in the allocation of Deep Sea Fishing Licences causing loss of millions of dollars to the exchequer and at the same time depleting the available fishing stock in the territorial waters of Pakistan by tacitly ignoring the corrupt practices during deep sea fishing operation by the 'favourite' companies identified by the Pakistan Navy.

b.Initiate appropriate criminal action based on the enquiry report of the Pakistan Navy about the persons/firms/companies declared as being involved in corrupt practices during deep sea fishing operations.

c. Immediately arrest officials of the Ministry of Agriculture involved in this scandal as well as the owners/directors of the black listed companies/firms who have been allocated Deep Sea Fishing Licences.

The Pakistan Peoples Party calls for:

a. Framing of appropriate charges of

· Abuse of public office,
· Misuse of authority,
· Gross irregularity in allocation of licences to black listed companies for illegal gratification,
· Causing loss to the public exchequer.

b. Immediate arrest on above charges of the following: .

i. Mr. Khair Mohammad Junejo, Minister for Agriculture.
ii. Mr. Randhawa, Secretary Agriculture and now Chief Secretary Punjab.
iii. Mr. M.Q. Reza, Director General , Marine Fisheries Department.
iv. wners/Directors of Ms World Trade International.
v. Owners/Directors of M/s Shahbaz Traders, M/s Shahbaz Shipping & Trading Company (Pvt) Ltd. including Mr. Shahbaz Anwar and other family members i.e. Mr Kashif Anwar and Kamal Anwar who have also been issued licences.
vi. Owners/Directors of M/s Sea Hawks, M/s Sea Hawks (Put) Ltd, M/s Mehran Fisheries & M/s Ocean Grace Fisheries (Pvt) Ltd. including Mr. Changez, Mr. Rahim and Mr. Fazlur Rahman.
vii. Owners/Directors of M/s Sigrid Beacon Pakistan (Put.) Ltd, M/s Sigrid farms and M/S NAFKO (Pvt) Ltd.

The Pakistan Peoples Party also feels that some of these culprits are likely to escape the country to avoid accountability as such they may be placed on the Exit Control List immediately.

Sincerely,

(Shaikh Mansur Ahmed)
Deputy Secretary General
Pakistan Peoples Party Parliamentarians