NAB places fresh list of 29 scams before SC

Published July 29, 2015
The fresh list of 29 scandals includes a Rs4bn case in the army-run NLC against its CFO for unauthorised investment.—AP/File
The fresh list of 29 scandals includes a Rs4bn case in the army-run NLC against its CFO for unauthorised investment.—AP/File

ISLAMABAD: Accepting that it missed out a number of corruption scandals, the National Accountability Bureau came up on Tuesday with a fresh list before the Supreme Court, in addition to its earlier list of 150 mega scams involving approximately Rs568 billion.

The fresh list of 29 scandals includes a Rs4 billion case in the army-run National Logistics Cell (NLC) against its chief financial officer Saeedur Rehman for unauthorised investment in the stock market.

Take a look: NAB submits revised list of mega corruption cases before SC

Although the complaint was received by NAB on July 18, 2011, the fresh report said that despite repeated reminders sent to the NLC and the General Headquarters (GHQ) since Jan 2012, no reply or record had ever been received. The case was instituted on the complaint of the Public Accounts Committee of the National Assembly.

Other accused in the scam are retired Lt Gen Khalid Munir, retired Lt Gen Mohammad Afzal Muzaffar and Najeebullah Khan. NAB has mentioned the date of completion of the inquiry as Oct 30, 2015.

A Supreme Court bench, headed by Justice Jawwad S. Khawaja, is seized with a matter relating to corruption in NAB.

On July 7, NAB had informed the court that it was pursuing 150 mega scams involving approximately Rs428.3bn in financial and land irregularities and abuse of power. The list implicated big guns like Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and two former premiers, Yousuf Raza Gilani and Raja Pervez Asharaf, a caretaker prime minister, Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, former president Asif Ali Zardari, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, former federal and provincial ministers, senior bureaucrats and individuals from the banking or financial sector.

On July 23, an application was filed in the Supreme Court accusing NAB of misleading the court by presenting an “evasive” list of 150 mega scandals.

An internal communication was also attached to the new list on behalf of NAB Director General (operations) Syed Khalid Iqbal. It asked the directors general of four regional NAB offices – retired Col Sirajul Naeem of Karachi, Syed Burhan Ali of Lahore, retired Maj Tariq Mehmood Malik of Balochistan and Zahir Shah of Rawalpindi – to investigate why these cases had been omitted, at their end, from the earlier list.

“The competent authority in the NAB headquarters has taken a serious view of the lapse on your part,” said the letter sent to the DGs on July 27. It said the list was prepared on the basis of the cases provided by the bureau’s regional officers who were custodian of the cases in their jurisdictions.

“A detailed scrutiny of the list indicated that some major cases in the categories of financial, land grabbing and misuse of authority were not reported,” the letter said, adding that conversely some cases of insignificant values were provided.

Resultantly, a supplementary application had to be submitted to the court to give a fuller picture, the letter said, asking the regional officers to submit an inquiry report within a week.

The fresh list also contains an inquiry against officials of the Privatisation Commission and the management of Etisalat, which owns the PTCL, for deliberately avoiding a payment of $800 million by the company to the government. The inquiry initiated in May 2013 is in progress and expected to be completed by October this year.

The list contains a complaint against officials of KASB Bank and State Bank of Pakistan for illegal sale/acquisition of shares of KASB Bank by Bank Islami. The amount involved in the case is over Rs5bn.

Similarly, the list includes inquiries against a former director of Bank of Punjab (BoP), Khurram Iftikhar, for misuse of authority and fraud worth Rs6.2bn; against directors/owners of Haq Bahu Sugar Mills Pvt Ltd for non-delivery of sugar to the Trading Corporation of Pakistan, causing a loss of Rs1.4bn to the national exchequer; and against Haris Afzal for misappropriation of funds and property of BoP worth Rs1bn by obtaining illegal pecuniary advantage through “corrupt, dishonest and illegal means”.

An inquiry is pending against the Director of National Investment Trust, Asif Javed, and others for sale of PECO’s shares by the NIT. This act caused a reduction in the government shareholding from 54.48 per cent to 33.3pc without prior approval of the Privatisation Commission. The amount involved is Rs4bn. However, an agreement between the accused and the commission for the sale of land has been finalised.

The list contains a case again the chief executive officer of Callmate Telips for cheating the public at large and causing a loss of Rs5.6bn to the exchequer.

Under the head of land scam, an inquiry is in progress against the Director General of Sindh Building Control Authority, Karachi, Manzoor Qadir, for illegal conversion of streets and roads in Clifton’s Block-3. The size of the case is over Rs50bn.

An investigation is pending against illegal allotment of plots in 350 acres of Karachi Port Trust land on Clifton shore worth Rs350bn.

A case is pending against Hammad Arshad of Globaco Pvt Ltd (Now Orange Holding Pvt Ltd) and the management of DHA City Lahore worth Rs16bn.

Under the head of abuse of official position, an inquiry is pending against officials of the Project Extension of Pat Feeder Canal in Dera Murad Jamali worth Rs5.8bn and another against the project director of Balochistan police department worth Rs5.5bn.

A case is pending against Pepco’s former managing director Tahir Basharat Cheema and officials of the National Transmission and Dispatch Company and Discos (distribution companies) for causing a loss of Rs13.3bn by introducing fake specifications and formula to justify the purchase of low-loss transformers and procurement of distribution transformers at exorbitant rates.

An inquiry is pending against officials of the Ministry of Special Initiatives for misappropriation of funds in a Rs7bn project called Clean Drinking Water for All.

Published in Dawn, July 29th, 2015

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