Ref: LETTER TO EDITOR Date: JULY 19, 1998

It has been reported that a Swiss judge has charged a bigwig of the Bhutto government with receiving massive kickbacks from the two Swiss pre-shipment inspection companies, Cotecna and SGS. It is a fact that these two companies during their "reign of terror" as omnipotent officious meddlers, played havoc with the country’s imports and ensured that the entire import regime went down in mayhem and confusion. They would, as a matter of routine, arbitrarily fix the import price without ascertaining the background or the conditions peculiar to a particular deal. They jacked up the import prices by a minimum of eight to ten percent and no one was there to listen to the cries of help of the genuine importers. Finally, better sense prevailed, and these two companies were kicked out of the country.

However, now that the Swiss judge has charged these two companies for giving kickbacks and if they are found guilty by the courts, can the Pakistany importers, jointly or severally, sue these companies for damages? Will these two companies, then, will be responsible to pay back alongwith penalty and mark-up, the extra costs incurred by the genuine importers? Will the government return the "added" duties and taxes to importers?

The FPCCI must, immediately, undertake a comprehensive exercise to collect data from the importers who have suffered tremendously due to the outrageous and high-handed actions of these two companies. The FPCCI should also hire the services of top-notch attorneys in Pakistan and Switzerland to prepare a case against Cotecna and SGS, so that billions of rupees of the importers are recovered. The FPCCI should also make sure that these two companies are never, ever, allowed to do business in Pakistan, cause one may never know what devastation these companies could cause in future to the economy of this country.

Sincerely:

MAJYD AZIZ