National Fertilizer Marketing Limited (NFML) has sent two references against its former deputy general manager (DGM) for alleged corruption, misappropriation of funds, fertiliser theft and abuse of authority involving Rs980 million to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), The Express Tribune has learnt.
The NFML also sent a separate reference regarding the former DGM Uzair Abu Bakr’s allegedly fake MBA degree, an official document disclosed.
The NFML terminated Bakr’s contractual appointment on June 3, 2013 on the charges of fake degree and irregularities in managing the company’s financial matters. NFML Managing Director Basit Abbasi said the company had documents to NAB for investigation and to recover losses incurred by the company. Abbasi said the NAB would determine role of subordinates and contractors involved. The general manager had issued a number of show cause notices to Bakr to explain his position between January and April 2013. Abbasi said the reference was sent to the NAB for investigation.
Bakr is accused of issuing supply orders directly to dealers from trans-shipment stores Karachi, in violation of the marketing manual that only authorises the regional manager to do so. A number of dealers from Lahore were allowed to dispatch supplies from other regions, which caused shortage of urea in the Punjab for the Rabi crop in 2012. The NFML had fixed monthly quotas of each registered agency on the basis of inventories carried, but Bakr allegedly issued large quantities to dealers on his own discretion.
The company also lost Rs400 million when some contactors defaulted on payments.
One of the references alleges misappropriation of 55,000 bags of imported urea from Rasheed and Kohinoor godowns in Karachi. The quantity was worth Rs120 million. It was allegedly misappropriated by Bakr in connivance with M/s Sindh Goods. Bakr was then working as NFML’s acting general manager. Bakr said he was terminated by the NFML when he highlighted the corruption by a mafia in the company. He said that he had written a letter to the NAB chairman in May 2013 about corruption in the company. He did not identify any of the people in the mafia but insisted he was being victimised. He maintained that his MBA degree was not fake.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 4th, 2014.