ISLAMABAD – Captain (retired) Muhammad Mahmood was transferred and posted as Officer on Special Duty OSD, last month and now startling details surfaced behind his removal.
A report shared by senior journalist Azaz Syed claimed that Mehmood was removed due to allegations of favoritism towards certain Long Distance International (LDI) companies, which reportedly defaulted on payments totaling around Rs76 billion.
During his time in IT Ministry, the former secretary introduced policy guidelines that favored these LDI operators, allowing them to pay only half of their overdue principal amounts through 30 quarterly installments.
The journalist quoting sources claimed that these guidelines comes after kickbacks, with claims of a deal being brokered in some gulf region.
As the matter garnered attention, PM Office acted promptly by removing Mahmood from his position and initiating an investigation into the matter. He further mentioned that Capt. retd. Mahmood was earlier named in 2023 wheat import crisis, which led to his suspension from the Ministry of Food Security and Research.
On the other hand, Mahmood denies any wrongdoing and asserts that his removal is connected to the prolonged issue of LDI payments. Mahmood said the issue of LDI payments has been in legal limbo for over a decade, and claims to facilitate a proposal for recovering Rs25.5 billion from the companies, but said the proposal was not accepted by the Pakistan Telecommunications Authority (PTA).
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