No NAB reference in field against JJVL after court returns two earlier references

ISLAMABAD: At present, there is no NAB reference in the field against Jamshoro Joint Venture Limited (JJVL), its chief Iqbal Z. Ahmed, or any of the directors/companies of Associated Group, as two NAB references (1/2020 pending since January 2020 and reference 19/2016 pending since March 2016, have been returned to the NAB head-office through the NAB court orders of February 3, 2024 and February 15, 2024 respectively.

In both the references, the court held that the accountability court lacked jurisdiction as no offense was made under the NAB laws.

The accountability courts in their orders about both references, first reference 1/2020 (pending since January 2020) and second reference 19/2016 (pending since March 2016), declared that the charges against Iqbal Z Ahmad, his sons and other directors of JJVL are found to be ‘false’ and ‘baseless’.

The court, while deciding reference 1/2020 in its order on February 3, 2024, observed: “Today, investigation officer (IO) NAB through SP NAB submitted para-wise reply, whereby he admitted in Ground-B that the accused persons are private persons, whereas Ground G & H of the application shows that in the interim and supplementary reference, there is no allegation that the transactions conducted by the applicants/accused or their companies were directly or indirectly connected holder of public office. There is no allegation that the funds, property or interest involved or belonged to the appropriate government.”

“In Ground H, it is stated that there is no allegation against applicants/accused that they have committed any offense which falls within the ambit and purview of section 9(ix), (x) and (xi) of sub-section (a) of NAO, 1999. These grounds are replied by the IO NAB in a written reply to be a matter of record. There is no specific denial on the part of NAB authorities, therefore, the presumption would be an admission on the part of NAB authorities,” the court said.

The accountability court has sent reference 1/2020 against Jamshoro Joint Venture Limited (JJVL) owner Iqbal Z Ahmed, his two sons, and others back to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) owing to lack of jurisdiction. Iqbal Z Ahmed, his sons Faseehuddin Ahmed and Raziuddin Ahmed, and other accused Asim Iftikhar, Salamat Ali, Qazi Humayun Fareed and Mohammad Ramazan were booked by the anti-graft watchdog in 2020 for their alleged involvement in laundering billions of rupees through corrupt practices. The counsel for Iqbal Z Ahmed said his clients have been declared innocent and the matter is closed now.

Accountability Court-IV, Karachi, in its order on February 15, 2024 about the NAB reference 19/2016, said: “In the said reference, there is no allegation that applicants/accused intentionally misused their authority by disregarding the law so as to gain any monetary benefit or favour for himself or any other person related to him or on his behalf.”

“There is neither any allegation of having done the act not in good faith, nor there is any allegation of gaining any monetary benefit as such the applicants/accused does not fall within the ambit of misuse of authority as defined by the law and as enunciated under the amendments. There is no allegation against the accused that they did not act in good faith or that they gained any monetary benefit or asset,” the court said.

The Accountability Court-IV, Karachi, on February 15, 2024, returned the reference filed against Dr Asim Hussain and nine others, including leading businessman Iqbal Z Ahmad to the NAB on account of lack of NAB’s jurisdiction in the matter.

The court, headed by Judge Shahid Pervaiz Memon, observed that none of the accused, including Dr Asim Hussain, the-then petroleum minister Iqbal Z Ahmad, Zuhair Ahmed Siddiqui, ex-SSGC MD, Yousaf Jamil Ahsan, Khalid Rehman, Malik Usman, Basharat A Mirza, and Shoaib Warsi either violated any provision of the law or gained any monetary benefit.

The court further observed that in view of the NAB amendments, as none of the accused being in the public service, the NAB court has no jurisdiction. So, the court has returned reference to the NAB head-office for disposal according to the law.

The court, in the reference, observed: “There is no allegation that the applicants/accused intentionally misused their authority by disregarding the law so as to gain any monetary benefit or favour for himself or any other person related to him or on his behalf.

There is neither any allegation of having done the act not in good faith, nor there is any allegation of gaining any monetary benefit as such the applicants/accused does not fall within the ambit of misuse of authority as defined by the law and as enunciated under the amendments.

There is no allegation against the accused that they did not act in good faith or that they gained any monetary benefit or asset.”