Audit starts probe against OGDCL
Aftab Ahmed
Islamabad: Director General (DG) audit on petroleum has started a probe against managing director Oil and Gas Development Company Limited–OGDCL–for acquiring idle land in Balochistan at hefty rates.
According to media reports, Oil and Gas Development Company Ltd (OGDCL) Managing Director Shahid Saleem had approved to pay a hefty amount to Nawabzada Shazain Bugti, putting an additional burden of Rs 8 billion by acquiring land that a previous managing director surrendered.
In a letter written to managing director OGDCL, DG Audit on Petroleum also sought a detailed record of acquiring land for the Uch gas field in Balochistan to scrutinize.
He has asked for details of the total land acquired for the Uch gas field up to June 2020;
Copy of lease agreements for the hiring of land for Uch gas field;
The survey report by the OGDCL Land Assessment Committee for the requirement of land for
Uch gas field;
A copy of the lease agreement for 2930 acres of land signed on January 14, 2016;
The copy of de-hiring notices for 2930 acres issued on February 15, 2017;
The copy of the lease agreement of 2500 acres of land for the period from 2017 to 2020;
A copy of BoDs approval for hiring total leased land and 2500 acres of land for the period for the Uch gas field from 2017 to 2020. The details of payment of rent for all leased land with a copy of vouchers documents.
On the federal government’s advice, Oil and Gas Development Company Ltd (OGDC) Managing Director Shahid Saleem has approved to pay Nawabzada Shazain Bugti an additional 36pc as rent for 2,500 acres of oil and gas fields situated at Uch, Dera Bugti, it said.
OGDCL has paid Rs79,000 per acre rent to Nawbzada Shazain Bugti with effect from 1st January 2018, despite the land not being in OGDC’s use since February 2017.
It is pertinent to mention here that former OGDCL MD Zahid Mir had surrendered 2,500 acres of oil and gas fields and had kept 1,300 acres of land as additional land.
The paper further said that approximately Rs8 billion worth of heavy burden had been put on the national exchequer due to approval by Shahid Saleem. A cheque worth Rs77.2 million has been issued to Nawbzada Shazain Bugti and his two brothers before inking the amended agreement.
PAC shocked over MD OGDCL hefty package,Import luxury car for his use
The country’s top oil & gas exploration company—OGDCL—with its new Managing Director, Shahid Salim Khan, is against its successors’ footprints for wheeling & dealing by putting aside the decision in the more extensive interests of the company.
According to a local largest daily Urdu newspaper, the newly appointed MD has fixed its own Rs 3.8 million salaries per month. A chauffeur-driven 2400CC imported vehicle is a surprise for the Public Accounts Committee (PAC).
One of PAC members stunned by saying that an imported vehicle worth Rs 16.5 million needs justification for an MD of a public listed company not in Pakistan but abroad as well.
However, MD Shahid Salim Khan further said that OGDCL has such a lavish and luxurious vehicle at its pools that it cannot use.
According to other media reports, the state-run Oil & Gas exploration monopoly has doled out Rs 77 million to one of its leases in Balochistan at theSecretary of Petroleum’s requesting Asad Hayauddin, against the decision of BoDs of the company.
The OGDCL has paid a hefty sum to lure its disgruntled ally Jamhoori Watan Party (JWP), Nawabzada Shazain Bugti, the voting on the Finance Bill 2020, said the paper.
