ISLAMABAD: The National Accountability Bureau has finally filed a reference against a former chairman and three other officials of the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority after two years of investigation into allegations of irregularities and corruption amounting to Rs45 billion.

“The reference was filed on Tuesday in an accountability court in Rawalpindi,” a senior NAB official told Dawn on Wednesday.

Former chairman of Ogra Tauqir Sadiq is at large despite repeated attempts by NAB to arrest him.

The other officials of Ogra nominated in the reference are: Member Gas Mansoor Ali Muzaffar, Member Finance Mir Kamal Frid Bijarani Muree and Jawad Jamil, Staff Officer to the former chairman.

The reference has been filed on the directives of the Supreme Court. According to NAB spokesman Zafar Iqbal, the former chairman and the three officials have been accused of misusing their authority, embezzling funds, causing a loss of Rs44.57 billion to the national exchequer by converting operating income (regular income) into non-operating income in violation of an agreement signed with the Asian Development Bank and the World Bank, relocating a number of CNG stations and making illegal appointments, etc.

Because Tauqir Sadiq is said to be a close relative of PPP secretary general Jehangir Badar, the PML-N has accused the Punjab Governor’s House of sheltering the accused.

On Sept 5, NAB decided to file the reference and on Oct 5, the Supreme Court ordered NAB to arrest Tauqir Sadiq by Oct 8.

On Nov 25 last year, the apex court had declared that the appointment of Tauqir Sadiq as Ogra chairman was illegal and ordered NAB to investigate the cases of corruption against him and submit its findings within 45 days.

The court had observed that five people, including Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf, were involved in the illegal appointment of Tauqir Sadiq.