Senator Aon Abbas opens up on wheat import scandal

Following the wheat import scandal investigation, Senator Aun Abbas Bappi on Friday made startling revelations regarding the situation, ARY News reported.

Senator Aun Abbas Bappi revealed in a statement that the caretaker government initially cited a lack of funds as the reason for not importing wheat. Additionally, halting the Trading Corporation from importing wheat, creating an artificial shortage.

However, Senator Bappi disclosed that the caretaker government suddenly permitted the private sector to import a staggering 1 million tons of wheat.

This decision resulted in the private sector importing 1 million metric tons of wheat in October alone, the Senator revealed.

READ: Wheat import scandal: Initial report ‘reveals’ shocking details

In November, approval was sought from the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) to import even more wheat, according to Senator Bappi.

Shockingly, at the time of this sudden permission to import wheat, the government had 4 million tons of wheat in its account, while the private sector already possessed 6 million tons of wheat.

Senator Bappi highlighted the suspicious timing of these events, noting that the import approval was granted on October 22, with the first ship arriving just nine days later on November 1.

“Normally, it takes around 25 days for a ship to travel from Ukraine, but seems like the ship set sail before the wheat import was officially approved,” he added.

He further added that two more ships arrived on November 5, bringing wheat from Ukraine. Senator Bappi stated that significant ‘profits’ had been made through these doubtful import practices, highlighting potential corruption within the wheat import process.