KARACHI – Senior officers and workers of the Pakistan Steel Mills werereportedly involved in theft of material worth Rs10 billion.
The shocking revelation was made when the Ministry of Industries andProduction approached the federal investigators and informed them aboutvarious theft incidents, which took place in almost all departments of thestate-owned enterprise. The PSM halted operations in 2015.
According to the letter written by the ministry to the federalinvestigators, the security department was likely to be involved in thetheft incidents. An internal inquiry was initiated by the PSM and it isstill under way, but the allegations are serious and transparent, theletter says.
The letter mentioned that on July 27 around 50 people barged in the plantarea of the Pakistan Steel Mills and took away copper and wire worthbillions of rupees.
The recent development comes days after a labour union wrote a letter tothe federal minister for industries and production and demanded removal ofthe PSM Board of Directors, alleging that the management has become afacilitator in theft incidents.
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It is said to be the ‘biggest theft in the country’s history’. However, theincumbent government or the investigation agency have yet to comment on thematter.
PSM was running in loss since 2008 and was eventually shut down in 2015. Ithas caused losses of Rs229 billion to the national treasury.
Its workforce was cut down to 8,884 in 2019. The government has so fargiven billions of rupees in net salaries to employees on compassionategrounds.
