SAPM Digital Tania Aidrus embroiled in conflict of interest case?

ISLAMABAD: Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Digital Pakistan, Tania Aidrus, has raised eyebrows following reports that she heads a private company offering digital services in what appears to be a possible conflict of interest case.

Jahangir Khan Tareen, who is now estranged with the party leadership, has also been revealed as one of the directors of Digital Pakistan Foundation (DPF) initiative.

Tareen had brought Tania Aidrus to head the government’s DIgital Pakistan initiative.

Ms Aidrus was said to have worked at Google and was thought to a suitable candidate for the post . However, a little over a week before the SAPM’s official notification to the post, a company, as per SECP record, was set up on Feb 20, 2020.

The company was registered with the SECP (Registration Number 0148306), by the name of ‘Digital Pakistan Foundation’, henceforth called DPF – it was registered on Feb 27, 2020.

The company was registered with the SECP (Registration Number 0148306), by the name of ‘Digital Pakistan Foundation’, henceforth called DPF – it was registered on Feb 27, 2020 pic.twitter.com/tVZoAQdp9B

— omar r quraishi (@omar_quraishi) June 23, 2020

DPF has its directors listed with the SECP & among them is the SAPM Tania Aidrus as well as Jahangir Khan Tareen and another gentleman who is believed to be JKT’s lawyer – the co-founder of Careem is also listed as a director pic.twitter.com/p4jimnwwK1

— omar r quraishi (@omar_quraishi) June 23, 2020

The SAPM Digital has defended her involvement with the private company.

“There is absolutely no issue with an SAPM being on the board of a not-for-profit company. It’s important to remember that this is not a private limited company and the same sector would only be an issue when the company is a profit-making entity,” Aidrus was quoted by Dawn as saying.

The purpose of the foundation, she said, was to provide free-of-cost support to the government in its digitisation initiatives.

“As such, the foundation does not intend to take any payments from the government. The foundation does not intend to increase the burden on the government, rather looks to alleviate it by raising funding from external donors via grants, not loans,” she said.

She also admitted that Mr Tareen was indeed part of the founding team “as someone who is tied to the government’s reform initiatives”.

However, she said, due to pressing personal and business commitments, which required his full-time attention in April, he resigned from the board.