ISLAMABAD, Jan 30: President Gen Pervez Musharraf has stripped former naval chief Mansurul Haq of his rank and military awards besides withdrawing his pension and other perks and privileges.

The decision to strip the former naval chief, convicted in several cases of corruption and receiving kickbacks in multi-billion dollar defence deals, of his rank has been taken on the recommendation of Naval Headquarters, National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Chairman Lt-Gen Munir Hafeez told a press briefing.

Mansurul Haq would not be entitled to use the rank of retired admiral before his name, explained the NAB chief.

The name of Mansurul Haq had also been deleted from the list of retired defence officials and he would not be entitled to draw the pension, he added.

The naval authorities have also confiscated a palatial Zamzama house owned by the convict and a duty-free Mercedes imported by him during his tenure as the admiral of Pakistan Navy, he said.

The NAB chief said the retired admiral, who had been extradited from the United States where he had been settled after his retirement, would not be allowed to leave the country till he would clear all the amount, which he had pledged to pay in the plea bargain.

The question whether he should be allowed to leave the country would be considered only after the payment of amount of the plea bargain.

Lt-Gen Hafeez refuted reports that Mansurul Haq had been given special treatment during his detention at Sihala jail. He said the former naval chief was treated as per the jail manual.

He disclosed that NAB would pay 20 per cent of the total amount recovered from the convict as service charges to a foreign firm hired to locate his assets and deposits.

When asked whether 20 per cent, which comes to 1.5 million dollars of the 7.5 million dollars was not too high, he said that it was not a bad deal.

“This would not be an end of his ordeal, he would remain under investigation,” the NAB chief said, adding the bureau still would be looking for his assets.

He explained that if and when NAB discovered more of his assets or he was found to be beneficiary of some company these would be confiscated.

On a question about a case against Anwer Saifullah Khan, Prosecutor-General Raja Bashir said the government would soon file an appeal in the high court against a decision of a NAB court.

When asked on how many cases of extradition the government was working on, he said, he did not know the exact number. However, he added, these were enough to keep them busy.