ISLAMABAD, MAR 14 (DNA) – A parliamentary panel on Tuesday ordered the launch of a probe to determine the real origin of a Chinese company that is developing the ‘pearl’ of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) after the government admitted that the company did not have the security clearance to work in Pakistan.

“The Ministry of Interior has not yet issued a security clearance certificate to China Overseas Ports Holding Private Limited Company (COPHC-Pakistan) that is building and operating Gwadar deep-sea port,” said Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) Executive Director Shaukat Hussain.

He was speaking before the National Assembly Standing Committee on Finance that met to discuss the registration of COPHC-Pakistan.

The SECP official said the regulator had written to the Ministry of Interior in November 2014, but the ministry had not yet given its response. As per requirements of the Ministry of Interior, the companies involving foreign directors and subscribers need to secure mandatory clearance from the ministry.

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s Member National Assembly (MNA) Asad Umar had taken up the issue after a newspaper revealed that COPHC-Pakistan was a company of unknown credentials. The article claimed that so-called parent company of COPHC-Pakistan, China Overseas Ports Holding Limited, was a one-room company, registered in Hong Kong.

Standing Committee Chairman Qaiser Ahmad Sheikh of the PML-N directed the SECP to conduct a probe to determine the origin of the parent company. The SECP was also directed to submit complete profiles of the parent company and its subsidiary.

The committee asked the SECP to review the security clearance issue of COPHC-Pakistan.