ISLAMABAD: Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on Thursday criticized successive Balochistan governments for its ill-practices, inefficiencies which led to the debacle of $11.43 billion damages in the Reiko Diq mining case.
It questioned the ways in which the ownership of Reiko Diq was managed by the Balochistan governments, which permitted shifting of ownership from an Australian company to two others by 2006, reported Express Tribune.
An in-camera briefing of Balochistan’s Mines and Minerals Development Department and additional attorney general was carried out by PAC on Thursday. Renowned nuclear scientist Dr Samar Mubarakmand and Ahmer Bilal Sufi, an international law expert was called upon by PAC for providing their expertise in this regard.
A PAC member declining to be named said the proceedings on Thursday revealed various Balochistan governments had mismanaged the case due to illicit practices and inefficiencies.
After the then Balochistan’s government refusal to renew the leasing agreement, Tethyan Copper Company (TCC) in 2012 filed a case in International Court for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) of the World Bank.
In March last year, ICSID had ruled against Pakistan in the Reiko Diq gold-cum-copper mine project. The decision went in favour of TCC — a joint venture between Antofagasta of Chile and Barrick Gold Corporation of Canada — which filed the case in 2011 claiming that Pakistan had unlawfully denied a mining lease.
PAC was informed the apex courts decision to declare this joint-venture null and void did not decrease TCC’s investment and per the provincial government even corruption done by the company did not impede its investment too.
The committee was told the ICSID proceedings were in a quantum stage, in which TCC has demanded $11.431 billion in damages and expects the decision to be announced in 2018.
The Attorney General for Pakistan’s office told the committee that they were strongly defending this outlandish claim on part of TCC.
PAC observed serious slippages on part of the provincial government, initiating from 1994, stated another committee member. He shared PAC Chairman Khursheed Shah queried whether the 1994 joint venture agreement permitted any changes in venture partner, to which he didn’t receive a satisfactory response.
Senator Mushahid Hussain noted nepotism and inefficiencies were to be blamed for the shoddy state of affairs.
Till March 2017, Pakistan legal costs on this case had touched $15.5 million.
