PM Ashraf appoints son-in-law Raja Azeemul Haq to plum World Bank post
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf has appointed his son-in-law Raja Azeemul Haq to the prestigious post of Executive Director (ED) of the World Bank in Washington.
I think it is not the only example of nepotism. Take the case of the Earthquake Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Authority (ERRA). Against the Sanctioned Strength of 207, about 770 people have been appointed. Every retired Brigadier, a Col, a Lt Col, even Majors have been appointed at salaries of about Rs 150,000 per month. Not only this, they are enjoying luxury vehicles in spite of the Audit Objections. The Development Budget meant for reconstruction of the affected areas is being used for paying salaries of huge staff. Not only this, they are demanding that they should be regularized, which means a Retired Brig in BPS 21, a Retired Major in BPS 20, so on and so forth. By the way, the Deputy Chairman, ERRA, can appoint against posts up to BPS 19, but who cares? The appointments are are not advertised in any newspaper. Only relatives are appointed.
The budget meant for reconstruction is decreasing, but the posts are increasing.
The plunder of the budget is an other issue. In June 2012, a fake bill was submitted and got approved amounting to Rs 25 lac against the repair of an Electric Generator, which never needed a repair, and never opened for this purpose. It was only removed from its place and placed at a distance of about a few ft for some days and then placed back to its place. The amount Rs 25 lac was pocketed by a Brig. Audit will never be able to detect this fraud. Only an investigation by a professional team will find out that the Generator was not repaired but the bill was charged and the money went to the pocket of a Brig.
If these things are being done by small officers, the PM of Pakistan may be forgiven to do some favour to his son-in-law. After all he is one of us.
I think it is not the only example of nepotism. Take the case of the Earthquake Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Authority (ERRA). Against the Sanctioned Strength of 207, about 770 people have been appointed. Every retired Brigadier, a Col, a Lt Col, even Majors have been appointed at salaries of about Rs 150,000 per month. Not only this, they are enjoying luxury vehicles in spite of the Audit Objections. The Development Budget meant for reconstruction of the affected areas is being used for paying salaries of huge staff. Not only this, they are demanding that they should be regularized, which means a Retired Brig in BPS 21, a Retired Major in BPS 20, so on and so forth. By the way, the Deputy Chairman, ERRA, can appoint against posts up to BPS 19, but who cares? The appointments are are not advertised in any newspaper. Only relatives are appointed.
The budget meant for reconstruction is decreasing, but the posts are increasing.
The plunder of the budget is an other issue. In June 2012, a fake bill was submitted and got approved amounting to Rs 25 lac against the repair of an Electric Generator, which never needed a repair, and never opened for this purpose. It was only removed from its place and placed at a distance of about a few ft for some days and then placed back to its place. The amount Rs 25 lac was pocketed by a Brig. Audit will never be able to detect this fraud. Only an investigation by a professional team will find out that the Generator was not repaired but the bill was charged and the money went to the pocket of a Brig.
If these things are being done by small officers, the PM of Pakistan may be forgiven to do some favour to his son-in-law. After all he is one of us.