WTP Report
ISLAMABAD : Major progress has been made in the $28 million NAB-Broadsheet LLC Gabralter case. The government has started an important operation for the return of two major accused including former chairman NAB Naveed Ahsan.
According to the sources, the FIA team has contacted Interpol for the red warrant of the accused who are absconding abroad.
Action has been started for the red warrant of former NAB Chairman Naveed Ahsan and former female officer of NAB.
Tariq Fawad Malik is also wanted by the FIA investigation team.
A case has also been registered against the accused in the complaint of a grade 20 officer of the cabinet division government of Pakistan.
According to the text of the FIR, the national exchequer suffered a loss of $28.7 million dollars due to the negligence of the named accused.
According to the sources in Cabinet Division Pakistan paid 1.5 million pounds to the firm due to the incompetence of NAB officials.
According to Inquiry commission led by former justice Azmat Saeed Sheikh has identified that an amount of $2.2 million was paid to the International Asset Recovery (IAR) and $1.5 million was paid to Broadsheet LLC in 2008. The NAB had entered into an agreement with these two international firms in 2000 to trace, locate, and recover illegal assets stashed abroad of registered targets.
The ARA’s was made with Broadsheet LCC (Isle of Man) but the claim of $1.5 million was paid to Broadsheet LCC (Gibraltar) and Broadsheet LCC (Colorado). The matter is also under proceedings with the PAC against the NAB for an expenditure of $3.7 million without any results to two foreign firms.
The commission completed the probe on March 23 and submitted its report to the Prime Minister’s Office.The report consisted of 61 pages and about 500 more pages were annexed to the report as documents and statements of witnesses.Justice (retd) Sheikh said the record related to Broadsheet LLC was “missing almost everywhere including the Pakistan High Commission in London”.
He added that the head of the mission did not consider it necessary to record the statements of Broadsheet owner Kaveh Moussavi and Tariq Fawad Malik who was part of the firm’s team in Pakistan.
Six number of the nominated alleged persons are Ahmar Bilal Soofi, former legal consultant NAB, Naveed Ahsan, former chairman NAB, Madina M Khan, director Overseas Wing, Tariq Fawad Malik, representative Broadsheet LLC in Pakistan, Abdul Basit, former Deputy High Commissioner, and Hassan Saqib Sheikh, former desk officer (Overseas Wing) NAB HQs.
According to the NAB sources payment to fake companies was transferred in two installments. One was paid through the banking channel and no record was available for the payment of the second installment of $0.7 million.
On the other hand FIA sources disclosed that the agreement was drafted and signed without filling the important fill-in-blanks. He further said that the UK court went against Pakistan and awarded $28 million to ARA which went against the payment to fake companies.
After NAB terminated the contract in 2003, Broadsheet LLC and another company involved as a third party filed for damages in a United Kingdom court.
It claimed that Pakistan owed them money according to the terms agreed upon since the government was taking action to confiscate some of the assets they had identified, including the Avenfield property owned by the family of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif.
The companies’ claims against Pakistan were held valid by an arbitration court in 2016 and later by a United Kingdom high court that gave an award of over $28 million against Pakistan.
