ISLAMABAD: On the instructions of the government, the National Accountability Bureau has prepared a fresh list of 233 cases of financial irregularities against 248 people that were withdrawn or disposed of under the National Reconciliation Ordinance, 2007.

Sources told Dawn on Thursday that original lists submitted by the provincial governments and NAB to the federal government involved an amount of Rs708 billion allegedly siphoned off through kickbacks, corruption and misuse of authority.

The sources said notwithstanding the controversy surrounding the validity of NRO after its expiry date of Feb 5, 2008, and Nov 28, 2009, most of the cases could be disposed of even now in courts because of lack of prosecution interest.

The original lists, the sources said, had now been destroyed after recent meetings between a top personality of the Senate, the law ministry and NAB authorities. They said the amount mentioned against each reference had now been deleted from the fresh list. Interestingly, almost all the cases were settled or closed after Feb 5, 2008.

The list of 248 NRO beneficiaries contained names of 22 politicians, including President Asif Ali Zardari and Ms Nusrat Bhutto, in 39 cases and 226 government employees and others in 194 cases.

According to the list, eight cases against Mr Zardari were disposed of under the NRO. The charges concerned kickbacks from SGS PSI company, grant of licence to ARY Gold, alleged corruption in purchase of Ursus tractors under Awami Tractor Scheme, award of pre-shipment contract to Cotecna, assets beyond means, kickbacks received from former Steel Mills chairman Sajjad Ahmed, construction of a polo ground at the PM house and money laundering in SGS Swiss case.

The Ursus tractors case against his co-accused Nawab Yousaf Talpur was also disposed of.

The notable cases related to Punjab were: assets case against Ms Nusrat Bhutto; two cases against Ch Shaukat Ali, chairman, Zila Council, Lahore, Haji Kabir, former MNA and Ch Zulfiqar Ali, former chairman, Zila Council, Lahore; two cases of assets beyond means and corruption in SSGC against Jehangir Badar; one case of embezzlement in octroi contracts against Malik Mushtaq Ahmed Awan; two cases of assets and misuse of authority against Rana Nazir Ahmed; two cases of assets and illegal appointments against Mian M. Rashid, former MPA, one case each of assets beyond means against Chaudhry Abdul Hameed, former mayor of Sargodha, and Mian Tariq Mehmood Dinga; were also disposed of under the NRO.

In Sindh, a case of misuse of authority against Agha Siraj Durrani was disposed of.

In Balochistan, the only accused politician was former MNA Mir Baz Muhammad Khan Khethran.

In the NWFP, three cases of financial irregularity against former chief minister Aftab Ahmed Sherpao and one each against former provincial ministers Ghani ur Rehman and Habibullah Khan Kundi and former senator Haji Gulsher were withdrawn.

In Rawalpindi, five cases related to misuse of authority in allocation of LPG quotas and appointments against former federal minister Anwar Saifullah Khan were dismissed as withdrawn under section 33 of the NRO. The cases were at appeal stage.

A case of misuse of authority in sugar contracts against a former minister for commerce and industries, Ahmed Mukhtar, was withdrawn at the inquiry stage.

A case against former provincial minister Sardar Mansoor Laghari for alleged corruption in the Utility Stores Corporation was disposed of.

According to the NAB list, the government employees who benefited from the NRO included Hussain Haqqani (ex-secretary and co-accused in BB case of TV channel), Aslam Hayat Qureshi (ex-federal secretary), A. R. Siddiqui (ex-adviser to the PM), Saeed Mehdi (ex-principal secretary to the PM), Ahmed Sadiq (ex-PS to the PM) and Javed Qureshi (ex-chief secretary, Punjab).

Among senior bureaucrats from Sindh who benefited from NRO, according to NAB, were Salman Farooqi (ex-federal secretary), Usman Farooqi (ex-chairman of Pakistan Steel), Siraj Saleem Shamsuddin, Rasool Baksh Rahoo, Mashook Ahmed Usmani, Aurangzeb of Pakistan Steel, Moinul Arfeen of Pakistan Steel, Kher M. Askari, Nayyar Bari and Akhtar Alam (ex-DGs, textile quota), Anees Alam, M. B. Abbasi (ex-president of the NBP), Rehman Malik (ex-additional DG, FIA), Muhammad Younis Dalia (ex-president of the HBL), Javed Burki and Irshad Ahmed Sheikh (ex-DG, PQA) and Pir Bux Solangi (businessman).

A total of 57 government employees and other individuals, politicians not among them, were given benefit under the NRO.

Syed Zahir Shah (ex-DG, PDA) was the only civil servant from the NWFP to have benefited from the measure, the NAB said.

Ten bureaucrats from Balochistan, mostly belonging to revenue, water and customs departments, enjoyed benefits under the NRO.

Cases of illegal gratification against ex-additional DG of the FIA, Rehman Malik, were disposed of under the NRO, according to the document.

A total of 78 cases against officials of the OGDC, PTCL, CDA, CAA, GPO and PWD at different stages of prosecution at NAB Rawalpindi were settled under the NRO.