Muhammad Wasi Khan has been appointed as the new Chairman of Byco Petroleum Pakistan Limited with immediate effect. Last week, Akhtar Hussain Malik ceased as the Chairman and independent director of the company. Amir Waheed Ahmed has been appointed as an independent director of the company with effect from January 7, 2021 in his place.
According to a notice of the company on PSX website, Amir Waheed Ahmed has been appointed as an independent director of the company with effect from January 7, 2021 in place of Tabish Gauhar.
Gauhar was on the Byco Board and Chairman of the audit committee of the refinery. A committee headed by Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives, Asad Umar is investigating the matter and will submit a report to the federal cabinet.
According to the media reports, Prime Minister’s Special Assistant on Power (SAPM), Tabish Gauhar has tendered his resignation. However, there has been no official confirmation from the government on this development. Gauhar, former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Erstwhile KESC (now KE), who, according to sources is in Dubai for the last four to five days, did not respond to a message sent by this correspondent till the filing of this report.
If this development is true then Gauhar will be the second SAPM on power who has resigned from the office in this governmnt;s tenure. In November 2020, Prime Minister’s SAPM on Power Syed Shahzad Qasim, tendered his resignation a few days after Prime Minister asked him to focus on Coordination of Marketing and Development of Mineral Resources.
Tabish Gauhar, a technocrat, was disturbed after an inquiry into the petrol crisis undertaken by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) cited M/s Byco refinery in the scam. The FIA recommended punitive action against Byco Refinery and further probe into its suspicious/illegal activities.
