November 18, 2002	Monday	Ramazan 12, 1423

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ISLAMABAD, Nov 17: An American law firm has asked the Government of Pakistan to pay it Rs250 million from the amount, which it recovered from the corrupt bureaucrats and politicians, a demand which the government has spurned.

It is feared that the dispute is likely to engage Pakistan in another legal battle with a foreign firm, causing a loss of millions of dollars to Pakistan in the form of legal fees and other expenses on litigation.

An official source told Dawn that the National Accountability Bureau had entered into an agreement with an American law firm, Broadsheet, for its services for recovering the plundered national wealth stashed in the banks of the United States and other countries.

The NAB had agreed to pay 20 percent of the amount recovered through the assistance of the contracted company. Under the contract, the government of Pakistan was required to hand over a list of its “targets” to the company. The targets included Admiral Mansurul Haq, in whose extradition, the contracted law firm had played an important role.

The government paid 20 percent of over $6 million, which it received from Mansurul Haq, as a result of plea bargain. A share of about $1.3 million was paid to the company.

The dispute, however, arose when the NAB arrested some of the bureaucrats, politicians and their accomplices from Pakistan, who were also on the list of targets provided to the company. The company was now demanding 20 percent share from the amount NAB had recovered from these bureaucrats and politicians.

The NAB, sources argue that they were not liable to pay anything to the American firm, as the list of target was only valid outside Pakistan and not in the country. They further argued that the role of the company was appreciated in the arrest of Mansurul Haq and his extradition to Pakistan, and the company was promptly paid its agreed share of the amount received from former Mansurul Haq.

The NAB is facing another problem, as Swiss Company SGS, against whom it was pursuing cases in Pakistan and Switzerland, has gone to International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes, demanding $120 million from Pakistan.

The NAB, however, is not willing to pursue the case in the ICSID, arguing it was only concerned with criminal prosecutions and could not involve itself into arbitration. Due to refusal of the NAB to pursue the arbitration proceeding, the government had to engage another law firm to pursue the case in the ICSID at the Haque.