Huge amounts may stuck up

KARACHI After the death of Osama bin Laden, it seems that allied forces would withdraw from Afghanistan as the war-on-terror is almost reaching to its virtual end. But, on the other side, Pakistani suppliers and traders, engaged in delivering food and other items to contractors of NATO forces, may have jeopardised their huge amounts still unpaid by such service providers, sources told The Nation on Friday. It is to be noted that there are dozens of Pakistani companies providing food and service to NATO forces through prime contractor M/s Supreme Food Services GmbH formerly M/s Supreme Food Services AG. The source said that on monthly basis an average 2,000 cargo containers are being transported for NATO forces to Afghanistan and contractors buy a big chunk of food supplies and services to move these volumes from Pakistani vendors. According to a rough estimation, Pakistan is supplying such goods worth $50-100 million per month to Afghanistan. Around 125-150 traders from the government and the private sectors are involved in this business. It is said that million of dollars are yet to be paid by the NATO contractors as their cases are being proceeding in Pakistan courts. The traders suggested the Federal government for taking steps to ensure clearance of unpaid dues from these contractors by evolving any mechanism. They were of the view that if it doesnt happens just in time, the country would also be deprived of precious foreign exchange at the crucial juncture when Pakistan desperately needs to maintain its forex reserves. The problem is that many big contractors like Supreme Food Services running full operation in Pakistan by hiring office places, employing Pakistan human resource under private name or unregistered firms bypassing taxes and labour laws. Besides, they do not have any assets in Pakistan except these moving trailers full of cargoes, sources said. The sources also pointed out a recent report published in foreign media that the US Department of Justice has started a confidential investigation against the prime vendor (M/s SFS) of the US army in Afghanistan and the companies that have been subcontracted by them in an effort to discover infringements made by the prime vendor contract. The US Department of Justice dispatched official letters to Supreme suppliers to enquire about information regarding the prices of the services received by the US army. The Department of Justice is using documents, data and letters which have been exchanged between Supreme Food Service and its suppliers to reveal infringements related to the prime vendor contract in Afghanistan. In the context of reticence and secrecy, the Office of the Inspector General issued a warrant to companies subcontracted by Supreme; to supply food and non-food items to the US Army under the prime vendor contract # SPM300-05-D-3130 signed on September 1, 2004. The warrant issued to subcontractors contained a specific appendix of all the required documents which include invoices, purchase orders, records of the volume of incoming orders issued by Supreme Food Service Co, agreements and contracts between the two parties, any exchanged correspondences, in addition to any documents related to reductions and discounts on the supplied materials. Supreme Food Services Co. AG, an Australian-based company, conducts its operations for the US Army in Zone 3 in Afghanistan. It performs all operations related to food supplies and distribution to areas belonging to the army. The company extended its services in Afghanistan in 2002 and later it was awarded the Prime Vendor contract with the US Department of Defense in 2004. Supreme utilises its resources in land, rail, sea and air transport to deliver food to more than 45 military locations especially in Afghanistan over the past couple of years, the report concluded.