Rs 16 mn spent on Musharraf's chamber!

Gadgets worth Rs 16 million have been imported for the President's chamber in National Assembly.

An inquiry by the Accountant General of Pakistan (AGP) has revealed that Rs 16 million ($300,000) worth of security gadgets were imported for President Pervez Musharraf's chamber in the National Assembly.

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This was about Rs 12 million extra as the equipment was available for Rs 4.2 million in the US, Finland and Britain, said The News, which said it had a copy of the AGP report.

The payment was made on the orders of National Assembly Speaker Chaudhary Amir Hussain.

Since the National Assembly did not have the necessary expertise, it consulted the president's security set up, which "instead of offering opinion, floated its own tenders" for the purchase, the newspaper said.

It all began, the inquiry report noted, after Musharraf decided to meet parliamentarians in his chamber in 2003.

The National Assembly secretariat floated the tender to buy two baggage X-Ray machines, two walk-through gates, three explosive detectors and five hand-held detectors to replace the existing equipment.