ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM), which is dysfunctional since June 2015 and unable to pay salaries to the employees and arrears of retired employees, has reportedly recruited a Secretary to the Chief Executive Officer, well-informed sources in the Ministry of Industries and Production told Business Recorder.
This issue, sources said, was raised by one of the members of PSM Board of Directors (BoD) at a recent meeting, which annoyed the PSM management.
The interesting aspect of this appointment is that Capt. Alam Mahsud (retired), Acting Chief Executive Officer (CEO), who is also Additional Secretary in the Ministry of Industries sits in Islamabad whereas the appointment of Secretary was made in Karachi.
The sources said, PSM management failed to present any justification for this recruitment during the Board meeting, except that she knows all the employees of PSM by name.
Chairman PSM Board, Aamir Mumtaz directed management to circulate the response to the query among the Board members and for the Company’s Secretary to make the response part of the minutes of the meeting.
Aamir Mumtaz, the choice of Abdul Razak Dawood is an American national and runs his personal business.
Last week, he told Business Recorder, through an email that salaries are paid approximately a month in arrears, sometimes it gets longer. He said, PSM management borrows money from GoP. This is a loan with markup and adds to the overall debt of the corporation and is reflected on the balance sheet. “The salary bill is approximately Rs. 360 million per month and PSM accrued liabilities are another Rs 300 million,” he added.
“Rs 360 million is cash that is borrowed from the government to pay out every month whereas Rs 300 million are other benefits that the employees get that we are unable to pay so it accrues as a liability against PSM. These are related to retirement dues (Gratuity, LPF and Provident Fund) etc,” he added.
Since PSM closed in 2015, PSM has paid out Rs. 30 billion in salaries and accrued approximately Rs 20 billion in unpaid liabilities of serving employees. For retirees PSM has a separate liability of Rs. 20 billion, he concluded. —MUSHTAQ GHUMMAN
