Sui Northern Gas passed Rs11.56 crores bill for tea, club memberships, refreshments on to consumers

A Public Accounts sub-committee has revealed that Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) passed Rs11.56 crore in executive club memberships and entertainment expenses onto consumers. The parliamentary body simultaneously scrutinised Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC) for distributing Rs160.4 crore in performance bonuses to employees despite registering no profit.

The disclosures were made during a session of the Sub-Committee-II of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), chaired by Convener Syed Naveed Qamar at Parliament House. The committee met to thoroughly review various audit objections relating to the Petroleum Division spanning the fiscal periods from 2011-12 to 2022-23.

According to audit reports, SNGPL spent the Rs11.56 crore sum on club memberships, subscriptions, and refreshments in 2018, treating the expenditure as part of its core human resource costs.

The expenditures were subsequently recovered directly from the public through inflated gas tariffs, which auditors argued breached standard operational boundaries.

The audit team maintained that executive club fees and luxury refreshment bills are completely non-operational and should be paid out of corporate profits rather than public funds. SNGPL management defended the policy, arguing that the privileges were part of the approved benefits package detailed in the board-stipulated HR manual and service rules.

During the proceedings, Convener Syed Naveed Qamar expressed astonishment at the figures, questioning “What kind of tea and coffee costs so much?”

The sub-committee later settled the SNGPL matter after learning that the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) has officially excluded non-operational items from tariff determinations since 2021.

Attention then shifted to SSGC, where auditors flagged Rs160.4 crore in performance bonuses awarded to executives and the managing director despite ongoing financial losses.

While auditors stated the payouts directly violated guidelines issued by the Finance Division, SSGC management countered that the bonuses were strictly tied to individual benchmarks under board-approved service regulations.