Government turns its guns on rivals in sugar scam.

Byline: Syed Irfan Raza

ISLAMABAD -- Just a week after the release of the forensic audit report that uncovered wrongdoings in sugar industry and implicated an erstwhile confidante of the prime minister among key political figures for last year's sugar crisis, the government turned its guns on the main opposition party for giving the lion's share in the Rs29 billion export subsidy to mill owners during the past five years.

'Ex-prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, who claims himself as the 'most genius man', had given Rs20 billion subsidy,' said Special Assistant to the PM on Accountability and Interior Ministry as well as chief of the Assets Recovery Unit (ARU) Shahzad Akbar while addressing a press conference on Wednesday.

Referring to the forensic audit, Mr Akbar said: 'The inquiry commission was quite critical about the role of the ex-prime minister in giving subsidy to the sugar mafia during his tenure.

'The sugar commission's report is an indictment against Ex-PM Abbasi and others.'

Reading out some findings of the commission, Mr Akbar said: 'The commission is of the view that as per the documentary evidence available as discussed, the calculation of subsidy based on the cost of production in 2017-18 was not done with due diligence while approving the subsidy of Rs20 billion. Mr Shahid Khaqan Abbas could not provide [reasons].'

However, Mr Akbar exonerated the federal government of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) in giving any subsidy on sugar in its tenure but only allowed to export the surplus sugar.

'The credit goes to the government of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) which probed sugar scam, collected evidence, made the report public and now going to take corrective measures,' he said.

The inquiry commission, which was constituted by the government in the first week of April, released inquiry reports on the issue of artificial shortage of sugar in the country and sudden increase in their prices in 2019.

The PM's aide, however, did not attempt to defend Chief Minister Usman Buzdar for giving Rs2.4 billion subsidy to the sugar mills last year. He said the food and agriculture secretary had admitted fault of the provincial government regarding the provision of export subsidy.

In response to a question, he said cases against all involved in the scam would be sent to relevant investigation departments such as National Accountability Bureau (NAB), Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) and Federal Board of Revenue (FBR). 'Irrespective of their...

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