October 5 - Dawn report by Anwar Iqbal states that Pakistan is facing significant economic challenges, with declining growth, high fiscal and current account deficits and low levels of international reserves, says a report the International Monetary Fund (IMF) released on Thursday. The IMF end-of-mission statement acknowledges that Islamabad has recently taken some policy measures, but said those were not sufficient and “decisive policy action and significant external financing” were needed to stabilize the economy.
Poland says it is probing alleged links between Orlen unit’s ex-CEO and ‘terrorist organizations’
- Polish website Onet had reported on Monday that the former CEO of Orlen Trading Switzerland was suspected by Orlen’s internal security unit of having had contacts with Hezbollah
- The ex-CEO denied in an interview with Polish private radio RMF on Tuesday that he had any connections with Hezbollah
WARSAW: Poland has launched an investigation into multi-million-dollar cash losses by Polish refiner Orlen’s Swiss unit and allegations that its former CEO had ties to “terrorist organizations,” Warsaw chief prosecutor Malgorzata Adamajtys said on Tuesday.
Polish website Onet had reported on Monday that the former CEO of Orlen Trading Switzerland, referred to only as Samer A. due to local privacy laws, was suspected by Orlen’s internal security unit of having had contacts with Lebanon’s powerful Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group.
Samer A., the ex-CEO of Orlen’s Swiss subsidiary OTS, denied in an interview with Polish private radio RMF on Tuesday that he had any connections with Hezbollah.
“I have been to Poland many times, I am a Polish citizen, I have a Polish passport. I am treated by the current authorities as a second-class citizen,” he said, adding that though he was currently abroad, he was not hiding from Polish law enforcement.
Asked at a press conference for details of the investigation, chief prosecutor Adamajtys said: “We are looking into all information, some of which is known to prosecutors from the press, radio and television, including on connections with terrorist organizations.”
Western countries including the US designate Hezbollah as a terrorist organization. The European Union classifies Hezbollah’s military wing as a terrorist group, but not its political wing.
Adamajtys said OTS was established as a business despite a warning by Orlen’s internal security unit not to do so. It operated, according to Adamajtys, without proper supervision, documentation and verification of contractors. She said this showed that Samer A. should not have been appointed as CEO.
“A person who makes advance payments without completion of the first tranches of certain deliveries is not a good CEO and should not be the CEO of this or any other company,” she said.
Reuters sought to contact Samer A. for comment on Adamajtys’ remarks about OTS operations, but he could not be reached. In his conversation with RMF, he denied that there had been any warning from Orlen’s internal security unit.
OTS LOSSES
Orlen has said OTS was behind the loss of around $400 million linked to contracts to buy Venezuelan oil and oil products.
OTS has said it tried to benefit from a temporary window in US sanctions against Venezuela and paid cash advances to intermediaries it never worked with before. The contracts were canceled, it said, as a closure of the window was nearing, and tankers weren’t loading.
Orlen has said it is currently auditing OTS operations.
Adamajtys said Orlen also faced questions over the alleged manipulation of fuel prices to artificially low levels ahead of last year’s national election and a sale of some assets that investigators suspect were below market level.
In February, Orlen rejected an allegation of below-market asset sales from the state audit office, saying it gained as much as 9 billion zloty ($2.2 billion) in one corporate merger. The company also denied lowering fuel prices artificially.
Samer A. has been charged in a separate probe with VAT fraud between 2008-2013, a regional prosecutor in Bydgoszcz said on Monday. He was detained by police and questioned by a prosecutor in February, and released on bail, the prosecutor added.
Opposition critics said that under the previous, nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) government, which lost power in that vote, Orlen had helped financed the party’s policy agenda, including taking control of some media outlets.
On Monday, Prime Minister Donald Tusk said he had called the country’s chief prosecutor and secret services coordinator to discuss potential links between the former CEO of Orlen, Daniel Obajtek, and Hezbollah.
Obajtek, a close associate of PiS leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski, responded on social media platform X that Tusk was “looking for scandals where there are none.”
Polish media have reported that PiS might put up Obajtek as a candidate in June’s European Parliament election.
Saudi FM discusses developments in Gaza with Mexican counterpart during phone call
RIYADH: Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan called his Mexican counterpart Alicia Barcena on Tuesday.
During the call, bilateral relations and aspects of joint cooperation were discussed. The two officials also discussed the latest developments in the Gaza Strip and its surroundings.
All-round Stoinis helps Lucknow beat Mumbai in IPL
- Stoinis top-scored in Lucknow’s modest chase of 145 against Mumbai Indians as the home team achieved their target with four wickets and four balls to spare
- Mumbai managed 144-7 courtesy Nehal Wadhera’s 46 and an unbeaten 18-ball 35 by Tim David after being invited to bat first
LUCKNOW: All-rounder Marcus Stoinis smashed 62 after he took a wicket on Tuesday to guide Lucknow Super Giants to an IPL win on the eve of Australia’s T20 World Cup team announcement.
Stoinis top-scored in Lucknow’s modest chase of 145 against Mumbai Indians as the home team achieved their target with four wickets and four balls to spare.
Lucknow moved to third spot in the 10-team table led by Rajasthan Royals. Five-time winners Mumbai remained ninth above wooden spooners Royal Challengers Bengaluru.
Lucknow skipper KL Rahul fell for 28, hours after being snubbed by India’s selectors, who on Tuesday afternoon named the team for the T20 World Cup in June.
Mumbai skipper Hardik Pandya was named deputy to India captain Rohit Sharma for the World Cup in the West Indies and the US, but the star all-rounder fell for a duck and his team to their seventh loss in 10 matches.
“Sometimes you will be down, sometimes you will be up, just that you got to give it your all,” Pandya said. “Looks difficult but a lot of things that you can learn from this game.”
Birthday boy Rohit, who turned 37, Japsrit Bumrah, Suryakumar Yadav are three of the four players from Mumbai to make the Indian team for the World Cup starting June 2.
Mumbai managed 144-7 courtesy Nehal Wadhera’s 46 and an unbeaten 18-ball 35 by Tim David after being invited to bat first.
Pandya said Wadhera will “play a lot of IPL and (represent) India eventually.”
Lucknow left-arm quick Mohsin Khan took two wickets after he struck first with the wicket of Rohit, who was caught out for four by Stoinis at extra cover.
Stoinis got the key wicket of Yadav for 10 and Mumbai were soon 27-4 when Naveen-ul-Haq got Pandya for a first-ball duck.
But Pandya returned to take two wickets with his pace bowling.
Stoinis turned up with the bat to raise his second fifty — he has also hit a century — of the season with hours left for the Australian selectors to announce the T20 team on Wednesday.
He fell to Afghanistan spinner Mohammad Nabi after his 42-ball knock laced with seven fours and two sixes.
Lucknow lost two more wickets to raise Mumbai’s hopes of a turnaround, but Nicholas Pooran steered the team home in the final over.
‘WEF conference in Riyadh testified to growing global interest in Saudi Vision 2030 reform agenda,’ EUSR to Gulf Luigi Di Maio tells Arab News
- EU special representative for the Gulf region announces new European Chamber of Commerce in Riyadh
- Luigi Di Maio lauds strong bilateral cooperation between the EU and Saudi Arabia on energy, security and Gaza
RIYADH: Riyadh’s hosting of the World Economic Forum this week is a signal of the global business community’s growing interest in Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 reform agenda, Luigi Di Maio, the EU special representative for the Gulf region, has said.
WEF’s special meeting on global collaboration, growth and energy for development took place in the Saudi capital on April 28-29 and was attended by 1,000 government, business and civil society leaders.
Di Maio, who is approaching his first anniversary in his role as EU special representative for the Gulf region, believes the choice of Riyadh as the summit venue reflects changing global perceptions of the Kingdom.
“First of all, the fact that the World Economic Forum, for the first time, is in Riyadh, testifies to the interest of the business community at the world level about the Vision 2030 program,” Di Maio told Arab News on Tuesday.
“The ambitions, especially economic ambitions, of Saudi Arabia are totally changing perceptions of the Kingdom around the world. There is a business community that is more and more interested in these ambitions, in this vision, and in a new generation of dreamers in this country.”
In a wide-ranging interview, which touched on EU-Gulf cooperation on Gaza, new visa rules for citizens of the Gulf Cooperation Council area, and the establishment of a European Chamber of Commerce in Riyadh, Di Maio lauded recent strides in bilateral relations.
“The WEF was an important opportunity to have real and practical solutions for both sides,” he said. “For instance, His Highness, Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Energy Abdulaziz bin Salman, had a bilateral meeting with EU Commissioner for Energy (Kadri Simson).
“And after this meeting, they published a joint statement saying that they discussed and they concluded the discussion about the idea, in a few months, to sign an MoU about energy partnership, energy collaboration.
“And this testifies, again, how much the World Economic Forum here in Riyadh was even a concrete and pragmatic solution, in order to have bilaterals resulting in MoUs, agreements and new partnerships between Saudi Arabia and the rest of the world.”
During his tenure as special representative, Di Maio said, the bilateral alignment between the EU and Saudi Arabia has grown even stronger, with a particular focus on common security interests, particularly in the wake of the Oct. 7 Hamas-led attack on Israel that sparked the ongoing war in Gaza.
“There is a strong alignment between European Union member states and European institutions and Saudi Arabia, but I would say even the GCC countries about the two-state solution for the Middle East peace process,” said Di Maio.
“But I would say that in particular, after Oct. 7, the awareness from our side of how much the GCC countries are strategic partners, not just for the contingencies, not just for what is happening now, but for the next decades is even more.
“This awareness is increasing a lot, not just at the member states level, but is growing around the world.”
This is due in part to a growing recognition of the Kingdom’s diplomatic and economic influence as a regional and global player, Di Maio said.
“Saudi Arabia is becoming more and more the point of reference because now it is implementing its vision for the region that is not just an economic ambition, but is a new policy and new initiatives in order to de-escalate, to make the region in peace and wind down on tensions like the tension that we are experiencing now.
“The partnership and the strategic partnership between the EU and GCC countries, in particular with countries like Saudi Arabia, is vital.
“For instance, last Monday in Luxembourg, we had the high-level forum of the ministers of foreign affairs between the ministers of the EU and Saudi ministers. Even Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan was in Luxembourg.
“And we discussed several topics in an informal discussion, a very frank discussion, where we understood more and more how much there is a common ground in order to build peace and stability for both regions, keeping in mind that Saudi Arabia’s security is our security, and, if I may, our security is Saudi Arabia’s security.”
In particular, Di Maio said, cooperation on the Gaza crisis has brought the EU and the GCC closer than before, with joint work on ceasefire negotiations, humanitarian aid access, and the ambition to establish an independent Palestinian state.
“The situation in Gaza is not just about how to politically solve this dramatic issue, but even how to work together about humanitarian aid access,” said Di Maio.
“We have to do more and more about how to allow the entrance of trucks in Gaza and how to deliver humanitarian aid to the people there. And we are working a lot with Saudi Arabia and others in the GCC, like the UAE, for the corridor between Cyprus and Gaza, and Qatar for the negotiations.”
“We are a team. At the beginning of this conflict, I was concerned about the situation, even, of our relations, the EU-GCC. But I’m experiencing that facing, together, this dramatic issue, we are even closer than before.”
He added: “My perception is that we have to be optimists. We have to work hard on the ceasefire using all the leverage at the world level in order to bring closer the two sides in order to have this ceasefire.
“I think that, again, the countries of the region, like Saudi Arabia, but even countries like Jordan, Egypt, Qatar, the UAE, they are protagonists of this process.
“And only with the leadership from the region we will be able to have a sustainable ceasefire, because the Saudis are the only ones that are guarantors of a ceasefire about Gaza on their side, because they are very well, they know very well the dynamics of the region and how to avoid a new Oct. 7 and the new conflict in Gaza.”
Di Maio used his interview with Arab News to announce the forthcoming inauguration of a new European Chamber of Commerce in Riyadh — the first in the GCC area — that will bring together Saudi and European firms to enhance trade and cooperation.
“I am very happy to announce here during this interview that next week, on May 8, we will inaugurate here in Riyadh the first ever European Chamber of Commerce, the first ever in the Gulf of the EU,” he said.
“We’ve worked very hard with (Saudi Arabia’s) Ministry of Investment, the Ministry of Trade. The EU delegation in Riyadh did a great job. And now we are going to inaugurate this chamber.
“That is in order to bring closer our companies, Saudi companies and European companies, in order to take on both sides the new opportunities of the Vision program, but even of our new European Green Deal, Next Generation EU, and others.
“And there will be a very articulated board with several companies from Europe, the most important, among the most important ones.”
Di Maio also highlighted the recent announcement of a new five-year multi-entry visa for Saudi, Bahraini and Omani citizens entering the EU.
“I’m very happy to announce that last Monday (April 23), the European Commission approved the five years visa cascade,” he said. “That means that when a Saudi, for instance, citizen will ask for a new visa, will apply for a visa, the validity of this visa for multiple entries will be of five years, and not just one year.
“And it will be for Saudi people, for Bahraini people, and for Omani people. Qataris and Kuwaitis, they already had. Now all the GCC countries are aligned for five years. This is good news for the future.
“But we have a period of time where your citizens, your students, your entrepreneurs, your researchers, your tourists, can come to Europe without much bureaucracy.”
Di Maio also took the opportunity to highlight a new collaboration between the EU and the GCC supporting young diplomats. “In mid-May this year, we will have the first ever young diplomats program,” he said.
“That is a program where young diplomats from the GCC will come to Bruges in Belgium and they will have joint training and joint simulations with our young diplomats from the EU.
“In Bruges, there is the Diplomatic Academy of the EU. It is a new project in order to train European diplomats. And we will have a first ever project between the EU and GCC where your young diplomats will be trained and will be in simulations with our young diplomats.
“It will be very important to explain better how it works, the complicated machine of the EU, but in particular, this is an opportunity to bring closer our diplomats, our youths.
“And I hope that these kinds of projects, like for the diplomats, will be opportunities for students as well, for young workers as well. We will work on this kind of people-to-people interactions because they are crucial in order to bring our societies closer.
“And, if I may, as we bring our people closer, there will be less Islamophobia, less hate. And this is very important for our societies.”
Pakistan to block mobile connections of over 500,000 individuals for not filing tax returns
- In December, the Federal Board of Revenue said Pakistan had around 5.2 million taxpayers in 2022, out of a population of 240 million people
- The government has decided to digitalize tax collection system to prevent leakages even as large segment of economy remains undocumented
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has decided to block mobile phone connections of more than 500,000 individuals who had not filed their income tax returns for Tax Year 2023, the country’s tax regulator said on Tuesday.
Pakistan’s narrow tax base and enduring tax evasion issue have often led to the problem of insufficient revenue collection. The shortfall exacerbates the government’s tendency to run a high fiscal deficit, often financed through domestic and international borrowing.
In Dec., the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) said the country had a “very narrow tax base” of around 5.2 million people in 2022, out of a population of 240 million people and it had planned to add 1.5 million new taxpayers to the existing base during this fiscal year.
On Tuesday, the FBR issued an order to enforce filing of returns by the persons who were not appearing on the active taxpayer list.
“FBR has taken decisive action by issuing an order to disable mobile phone SIMs associated with 506,671 individuals who fall under the aforementioned category,” the regulator said in a statement.
“The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) and all telecom operators have been instructed to enforce the ITGO with immediate effect, ensuring swift implementation of the order.”
These mobile connections would remain blocked until restored by the FBR or the concerned Inland Revenue commissioner, according to the statement. Telecom operators were asked to furnish a compliance report to the FBR by May 15.
Amid its efforts to broaden the tax base, the government of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has recently decided to digitalize the tax collection system to prevent leakages even as a large segment of the national economy remains undocumented.
Pakistan, which has been facing an economic meltdown, is also making efforts to introduce structural economic reforms. The South Asian country has to meet a primary budget deficit target of Rs401 billion ($1.44 billion), or 0.4 percent of its gross domestic product, for the current fiscal year before the government presents its budget in June.
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