PTI govt withdraws controversial amendments to companies law.

ISLAMABAD -- The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government has finally withdrawn controversial amendments that had quietly been introduced in the companies law to allow corrupt people being appointed on the boards and also facilitated to keep offshore assets hidden.

On July 7th, President Arif Alvi promulgated the Companies (Second Amendment) Ordinance 2020 - second in as many months - to reverse controversial amendments that the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) got inserted in the first ordinance, and the federal cabinet could not pick them. The first ordinance was issued on May 4 with effect from April 30, 2020.

The Express Tribune had reported on May 13 that the PTI government allowed people convicted in the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) cases to be appointed on the boards of the companies. After The Express Tribune report, the matter came to the notice of Prime Minister Imran Khan.

Through the second ordinance, the government has introduced 14 amendments. However, two sections contradict each other and raise questions whether the actions taken in between two ordinances have any legal cover.

'It shall come into force at once and shall be deemed to have come to in to force on the 30th April 2020', according to Section 1 (2) of the second ordinance. However, the section 14 validates all actions taken from April 30th to July 7th.

'All actions taken, approval granted or notification issued on or after the 30th April 2020 under the Companies Act, 2017, shall be deemed to have been validly, taken, granted or issued', reads section 14 of second ordinance.

The Express Tribune contacted the SECP on Thursday, requesting it to disclose whether any corrupt person appointed on any company in the past over two months or companies did not disclose their offshore assets.

'Refer to Section 1 (2) of the Companies (Second Amendment) Ordinance' was the terse response given by the SECP. 'No comments' said the SECP when it was asked to defend its May 14th position when it called The Express Tribune's report false. But the second ordinance has validated The Express Tribune report.

The PTI government did not restore the 2% quota of disabled persons in the companies, which it had abolished in May. The last PML-N government had enacted the Companies Act, 2017 by repealing the Companies Ordinance, 1984.

The PTI government, through the second ordinance, once again barred the people who entered into plea bargain with the NAB to be...