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Pakistan Security
Wackenhut (AKA Group 4)
Nov 6, 2012 The International News
KARACHI: The shares of G4S, a FTSE 100-listed company in Wackenhut Pakistan
Private Limited (WPPL), have been purchased by its Pakistani partner. The
share purchase has been registered with the Securities and Exchange
Commission of Pakistan (SECP). Ikram Sehgal, chairman of Wackenhut, said that the buyout was
driven by the government’s decision not to allow any foreign shareholding in
private security agencies in the country. He declined to disclose other
reasons that prompted the buyout. The buyout has surprised the security
services sector around the world as it was not expected that a Pakistani
entity could have the resources to buy out the shares of the largest security
services company in the world.—PR
September 6, 2012 The Express Tribune
The Peshawar High Court (PHC) withdrew its stay orders against suspending
operations of private security companies. The provincial government had
suspended about 27 security companies, including Wackenhut Security, after
some of their licences expired. Others companies’
operations were stopped after they failed to respond to certain queries of
the government. During the previous hearing on August 25, the high court
bench observed that it would withdraw its stay orders if the companies failed
to submit their replies by September 5. On Wednesday, PHC’s division bench,
comprising Justice Waqar Ahmad Seth and Justice Shahjahan Akhunzada, started
hearing a petition filed by Wackenhut Security, a foreign security company.
The bench was requested to adjourn the case because the company’s counsel, Waqar Khan, was not in the country. However, after going
through the order sheet of a case hearing on August 1, the bench gave its
orders as the deadline was over. The stay order was cancelled and orders of
the home department issued on February 28, 2012, were enacted. Officials of
the home department told The Express Tribune that they were waiting to obtain
a copy of the order sheet. Once that is received, an operation against the
companies would be launched. “We know that Wackenhut Security has almost been
merged into another security company in Peshawar. We know about their deal
along with all the relevant information and will soon be seizing everything
belonging to the company,” an official said.
August
20, 2012 Reuters
G4S is set to pull out of Pakistan amid an increasingly hostile environment
for foreign security companies, the Financial Times reported on Monday. The
company, which trades under the name Wackenhut Pakistan Ltd, has agreed to
sell the business to its chairman in the region for about $10 million. Ikram Sehgal, chairman of G4S's
Pakistani operation, who already owns a 50 percent stake in the company, is
expected to buy the company's Pakistan interest. "The Pakistani
government has decided it doesn't want foreign security companies in the
region, which makes it tough for outsiders to operate," Sehgal is quoted as saying. G4S, the world's largest
security firm, employs 10,000 staff in Pakistan, where it provides security
for the UN and multinational corporations. G4S is under fire over its failure
to provide enough guards at the London Olymp
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