Nadeem Babar, Secretary removed on petrol crisis

Aftab Ahmed

Prime Minister Imran Khan on Friday directed Nadeem Babar to step down and removed the secretary of petroleum over the petrol crisis.

Khan has also sent a case to the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) to complete the inquiry within 90 days. He asked the secretary of petroleum to report the Establishment Division.

Asad Umar Minister Planning Division said while addressing a press conference.

Meanwhile, the auditor general of Pakistan has started a forensic audit of the top ten top oil marketing companies (OMCs) that pocketed money during the oil crisis in June 2020.

The auditor will conduct a forensic of the top 10 OMCs in terms of market share as they represent nearly 95% of officially recorded sales of Motor Gasoline.

 Cabinet division in a meeting held on March 16 discussed OMC’s and dealers margins and issued instructions to conduct a forensic audit of the OMCs for the reported artificial partial shortage of motor gasoline in June 2020.

During the month of June 2020, countrywide shortages of Motor Gasoline the general public had faced.

Moreover, the Auditor-General will assess any violation in its license conditions OMCs made, hoarded product in anticipation of price rise on July 1, 2020. He will check any other illegal activity OMCs involved.