NAB agrees to free Admiral Mansur for Rs 457.5 million
January 10, 2012
The army-run National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has accepted an unprecedented offer from the former chief of naval staff Mansurul Haq to pay about Rs 457.5 million (US$ 7.5 million) – an equivalent of 1,270 years of salary of an admiral or two years salary of all naval personnel in Pakistan – in exchange for his freedom and closure of all corruption cases, NAB sources confirmed on Monday. To begin the process for his release the infamous former naval chief would either write a cheque or deposit cash worth Rs 305 million (US$ 5 million) to the NAB authorities within next 48 hours. He will pay the remaining sum of Rs 150.1 million (US$ 2.5 million) in easy instalments within year 2002, officials, confirmed. “If everything goes according to the programme, Admiral Mansur would return to his home in Karachi some time next week,” informed a senior NAB official, who disclosed that the deal with Admiral Mansur has already been cleared by President Pervez Musharraf. NAB officials privately admit that the plea bargain deal in the Admiral Mansur corruption case has now effectively shut the doors on the investigation in various other defence deals. Had he been tried for corruption Mansurul Haq was likely to question other shady defence purchases. Officials who were involved in various corruption probes against Admiral Mansur say that while serving as the director Naval Intelligence, head of Pakistan National Shipping Corporation and finally as chief of the naval staff, Admiral Mansurul Haq caused to the national exchequer through various corrupt deals. Though Mansur has agreed to pay more than Rs 45 crore for his release but, in the process, he has managed to save 14 residential plots that the former admiral, his wife and daughter own in various posh localities of Pakistan. Five of these residential plots were in the posh phases 5 and 6 of Defence Society in Karachi. — News selected by Saeed Mohiuddin, Reference Library. Filed by our