PTA Official Alleges Bribery, Decision on LDI Companies Pending Court Order
Govt Agencies Linked to Telecom Scandal Worth Billions of Rupees. Seven Long Distance and International (LDI) telecom companies have been implicated in a multi-billion rupee scandal, allegedly involving collaboration with the Ministry of Information Technology (IT) and the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA).
Sources reveal that these companies have been operating without licenses and paying fees for several months. For the past year, they have defaulted on a total amount of Rs 58.9 billion. Of this, Rs 16.7 billion represents the actual dues owed by the companies, while the surcharge amounts to Rs 42.2 billion.
The companies involved in the scandal include Worldcall Telecom, Wateen Telecom, Telecard, Dencom Pakistan, REDtone Telecommunication Pakistan, Wise Communication Systems, and Circle Net Communications Private Limited. Despite their licenses expiring several months ago, these companies continue to operate under expired licenses, causing significant losses to the government and violating regulations.
This ongoing issue has prompted concern over the continued financial loss to the national exchequer and the blatant disregard for the rules. In response, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has taken action by removing the Secretary of Information Technology from his position.
It is reported that the Law Division had already advised authorities not to issue new licenses to these defaulting LDI operators. However, the Ministry of IT, PTA, and the companies have failed to resolve the issue, with efforts to address the arrears being deliberately delayed.
A senior PTA official revealed that a decision regarding the future of these companies will be made within a month, pending a court order from the Sindh High Court. The official further alleged that PTA officers have accepted bribes amounting to crores of rupees from the involved companies, prolonging the legal proceedings and delay tactics.
According to the head of one LDI company, these firms have earned over Rs 500 billion in the last decade but have failed to pay taxes to the government. Additionally, the companies have not paid the dues for their licenses and are accused of laundering money abroad through hawala and other illicit channels. Despite the scale of the financial scandal, no decisive action has been taken to recover the owed amounts or blacklist the companies involved.
