LAHORE/ ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) Secretary General Ahsan Iqbal Monday regretted that the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) wasted an amount much higher than the actual worth of the London flats to investigate the Sharif family assets abroad.
Flanked by PML-N Secretary Information Marriyum Aurangzeb outside the NAB court here, he said the federal government wasted billions of rupees in London in a case in which it failed to prove a single penny corruption against the Sharif family. He said the government had become a laughing stock in the country. He asked who would register a case against NAB and who would make up the losses inflicted by it on the national exchequer.
Demanding Imran Khan to quit his office before January 31, Ahsan said not the establishment but the people of Pakistan were the true owners of the country. He said the process of grand dialogue would only be initiated once Imran Khan was sent packing.
Ahsan said it was the wish of 220 million people of the country that Imran should resign now. He said the government wanted a clash among the national institutions and Prime Minister Imran Khan was doing the politics of confrontation.
He said the PM was doing all this under a foreign agenda and demanded a verdict on the foreign funding case involving the PTI [Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf] and the prime minister. He said the day the case was concluded, both Imran and the PTI would stand nowhere as the case involved funding from India and Israel.
Ahsan Iqbal said that the government was victimising the political rivals while making fake cases against them. Citing the example of Shahbaz Sharif and Khwaja Asif, he said they had declared their assets.
Meanwhile, the management of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) distanced itself from the mater of M/s Broadsheet LLC, stating that the foreign legal team was hired by the Attorney General for Pakistan with the approval of the Ministry of Law and Justice and the then prime minister. “The present management of NAB has neither taken part in the execution of agreement with M/s Broadsheet LLC nor in initiation of arbitration proceedings,” the NAB said in its official response on the matter. It said the agreement of Government of Pakistan through the NAB with M/s Broadsheet LLC was made for detection of foreign assets of the accused person(s) on 20th June, 2000 with approval of the then president of Pakistan.
“On account of dismal performance of M/s Broadsheet LLC, the agreement was terminated in 2003, the NAB announcement stated.
M/s Broadsheet LLC went into arbitration against the Government of Pakistan in year 2006 and again in 2012. “The Attorney General for Pakistan through the appointment of UK-based law firm vehemently defended Pakistan’s stance before the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, London,” the NAB official announcement stated. The foreign legal team was hired by the Attorney General for Pakistan with approval of the Ministry of Law & Justice and the then prime minister.
The NAB clarified that the agreement with M/s Broadsheet LLC was made in year 2000 and the liability award against Pakistan was passed on 01-08-2016 by the Chartered Institute of Arbitrator, London, taking into account the disclosure exercise of M/s Broadsheet LLC and Government of Pakistan. However, according to NAB, the quantum/cost of the said award for $27,226,590 was passed in 2018 against a claim of $550 million.
“The same was challenged before the High Court of Justice, London but no relief was given,” the NAB stated.
According to NAB, the whole matter to defend the Arbitration and subsequent developments were meaningfully shared and supported by the Office of the Attorney General for Pakistan and Ministry of Law & Justice.
It is pertinent to mention that the current management of NAB has neither taken part in the execution of agreement with M/s Broadsheet LLC nor in initiation of the arbitration proceedings.
