ISLAMABAD (November-01-2024) The top leadership of the Businessman Panel (BMP) has accused the leaders of United Business Group (UBG) and President FPCCI Atif Ikram Sheikh of incompetence, mismanagement, nepotism, and corruption in the Apex chamber.
BMP Chairman Anjum Nisar, Secretary General Ghulam Ali, Group Leader of Rawalpindi Chamber of Commerce and Industry Sohail Altaf, and other central BMP leaders have expressed their serious reservations about the way FPCCI is being run.
They have blamed UBG and FPCCI leaders for incompetence, mismanagement, nepotism, and massive corruption in the FPCCI.
They said that FPCCI President Atif Ikram Sheikh is running the Apex Chamber in a highly unprofessional manner and is wasting resources mercilessly on his handpicked, unelected people.
Speaking to the media in a recent get-together, Anjum Nisar, the most outspoken leader in BMP, said that FPCCI neglected the business community in the recently held awards ceremony and that awards were given to those who never deserved them.
President of FPCCI prefers non-elected people over elected vice presidents and benefits them illegally by giving them business and hefty salaries, he added.
He stressed that if the President of the FPCCI is so keen to promote non-elected people, he should use his own money instead of funds collected for the welfare of the business community.
He said that non-elected people have sidelined elected vice presidents and represented the business community while meeting high-powered foreign delegations. They even represented Pakistan abroad even though one of them is not a businessman.
Ghulam Ali said that BMP will continue to strive for the resolution of issues faced by the business community. He furthered that the President of FPCCI has destroyed the reputation of Apex Chamber through his irresponsible actions.
Meanwhile, in a separate statement, former vice president of FPCCI Mirza Abdul Rehman noted that during a recent visit to China, the President of FPCCI overlooked the elected vice presidents of the Apex Chamber, as well as the members of the Pak-China Business Council and the Pak-China Joint Chamber of Commerce.
Nonetheless, President FPCCI chose two individuals who were not elected to accompany him on the important visit. The individuals showcased the Pakistani business community during their trip to China, highlighting the negative attitude of the President FPCCI.
He stated that the level of corruption within the FPCCI in previous years reached billions of rupees, and that the current leadership had pledged to prioritise the eradication of corruption. However, once they assumed office, they reverted entirely to their former stance and started misusing funds.
He stated that FPCCI is subject to the influence of unelected and unaccountable individuals who lack both electoral legitimacy and the necessary expertise to represent Pakistan on local and international forums.
Mirza Abdul Rehman said that individuals who are not elected and lack relevant experience have not effectively represented the interests of the business community, as their focus is solely on their own agendas and those of their superiors. This has harmed the reputations of FPCCI and UBG to a great extent.
The business community will not tolerate individuals within the FPCCI who are undermining this organisation for their own gains, he underlined.
The situation has worsened to the point where some of the UBG’s prominent leaders have ceased visiting FPCCI offices and begun to disregard significant invitations but this has not raised any eyebrows in the relevant quarters which is amazing, he informed.
Mirza Abdul Rehman stated that the President of FPCCI and the leadership of UBG have not effectively tackled the issues faced by the business community and are instead concentrating on advancing their own personal agendas at the cost of entire business community of Pakistan.
