Arrest Warrants Issued Against Officials Granted NOC To Telcos

Muhammad Irfan Published January 30, 2020 | 12:28 AM

The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Wednesday apprised the the sub-committee of Public Accounts Committee (PAC) that arrest warrants against the officials involved in granting no objection certificate (NOC) to two Telcos - Warid and Mobilink - had been issued

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 29th Jan, 2020 ):The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Wednesday apprised the the sub-committee of Public Accounts Committee (PAC) that arrest warrants against the officials involved in granting no objection certificate (NOC) to two Telcos - Warid and Mobilink - had been issued.

The committee headed by Senator Sherry Rehman was informed that the investigation in that regard was at final stages and soon after reaching a conclusion, a reference would be filed in the NAB court.

The NAB official requested the committee to provide an opportunity to shed light about this mega scam.

Earlier, Senator Sherry Rehman while discussing an audit para about the loss of US$ 517 million to public exchequer due to illegal usage of 4G LTE services by Warid, asked all telecommunication companies to brief the committee about their function.

She gave two weeks' time to Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) to arrange a briefing into the matter.

"This is strange, these telcos heavily charging their customers without having a required infrastructure and technology," Sherry observed.

The audit official also informed the committee that the management of the PTA unlawfully allowed Warid Telecom for the provision of 4G LTE services to public at large.

He said Warid was neither the Next Generation Mobile Services (NGMS) license holder, nor participated in the auction of NGMS.

The audit recommended that the matter should be investigated thoroughly on scientific lines so that it could be resolved accordingly.

The committee should be empowered to identify gaps and wrongdoings and fix the responsibility against responsible involved in granting permission to Warid Telecom for utilization of 4G LTE services without obtaining valid license through proper channel.