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ISLAMABAD President Asif Ali Zardari got relief under the controversial NRO in six references involving an amount of Rs114 billion which, according to the NAB's authentic record, he had allegedly amassed through corrupt means.
Signed by NAB Chairman Nawid Ahsan, a list provided to the Supreme Court on Tuesday has the names of 248 people accused of amassing wealth beyond their known source of income or embezzlement worth approximately Rs147 billion. Of them 23 are politicians, 17 from Punjab, four from the NWFP and one each from Sindh and Balochistan, and the others government servants or bureaucrats.
On Monday, the 17-judge Supreme Court bench hearing the demised but not done away with NRO called for an authentic list of people who benefited from the law showing how much benefit the beneficiary had drawn.
On Tuesday, Additional Prosecutor General Abdul Baseer Qureshi assured the court while submitting the 25-page document that the contents of the list were authenticated by provincial directors-general of the NAB, but expressed ignorance when asked whether the NAB list and the list issued by the law ministry were the same or different.
He said the list showed the cases on which benefit were drawn inside Pakistan but conceded that the amount relating to Cotecna and SGS were not available right now and were being sought from the foreign country.
The fresh list contains the names of the beneficiaries, date of initiation of cases against them, allegations and amount alleged to have been misappropriated and disposal under the NRO by relevant courts with dates.
All the cases shown as terminated against Asif Ali Zardari were initiated during the period of former President Farooq Leghari and former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif but could not be proved by different accountability courts when former President Pervez Musharraf was in power.
The reference on assets beyond means initiated by the Ehtesab Commissioner during the Nawaz Sharif era accused Asif Zardari of amassing wealth of $1.5 billion and Rs22 billion, but it was immediately denied by the spokesman of the president who said that the reports were only regurgitation of a decade-old unproven politically-motivated allegations.
None of the charges levelled against slain former prime minister Benazir Bhutto and Asif Ali Zardari could be proved in any court of law despite the fact that hundreds of millions had been spent from public exchequer and a relentless witch-hunt spread over countries and continents.
The absurdity and politically motivated nature of the cases was more than exposed when tapes of conversation between the prosecutors and the trial judge surfaced in 2001 and the conviction awarded by the trial court was set aside on appeal, the spokesperson said, adding that the appeal court had also passed strictures against the bias of the trial judge, forcing the judge to resign from the bench, he said.
He said that the regurgitation of the allegations at this time was part of an ongoing media trial of PPP leaders.
Other cases terminated in favour of Mr Zardari included the misuse of authority in awarding pre-shipment inspection contract to SGS, grant of licence to ARY Gold causing losses of Rs1.8 billion, corruption in the purchase of Ursus tractors (Awami Tractor Scheme) causing a loss of Rs268.3 million, misuse of authority in the illegal award of contract to Cotecna and the illegal construction of Polo ground at the Prime Minister House at a cost of Rs52.297 million.
Other people on the list are FIA's former additional director-general Rehman Malik, involved in two cases of illegal detention of complainant and illegal gratification amounting to Rs1.5 million; PML-N's former member parliament Haji Kabir Khan, involved in a zila council fraud cases of Rs60.5 million and Rs82.42 million, PPP Secretary General Jenangir Badar (corruption in SSGC worth Rs50 million and Rs8 million); former MPA Malik Mushtaq Ahmad Awan (embezzlement in Octroi contracts involving Rs260 million); former MNA Rana Nazir Ahmad (assets case and misuse of authority involving Rs46.37 million and Rs9.6 million); former MPA Mian Mohammad Rashid (illegal appointments involving Rs15.8 million); Nusrat Bhutto (assets beyond means case amounting to Rs1.5 million); former MPA Tariq Anees (assets beyond means Rs15 million); former MNA and mayor Sargodha Chaudhry Abdul Hameed (assets beyond Rs20 million); ex-MPA of Gujrat Mian Tariq Mehmood (assets beyond means Rs5.15 million); former Deputy Speaker of National Assembly Haji Mohammad Nawaz Khokhar (corruption and corrupt practices Rs1.896 million); ex-MNA Nawab Yousaf Talpur, co-accused in Ursus tractors; ex-MNA Anwar Saifullah Khan (misuse of authority in allocating LPG/appointments Rs41.76 million, $4.68 million, Rs7.64 million, Rs67.9 million and $0.395 million); former federal minister Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar (misuse of authority in issuing sugar export permits to non-entitled persons in 1994); ex-MNA Sardar Mansoor Laghari (co-accused in corruption in Utility Stores Corporation); former minister for education, Sindh, Agha Siraj Ahmad Durrani (purchase of furniture for PSIT, Rs319.5 million); former chief minister of NWFP Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao (illegal allotment of plots Rs21.5 million and Rs170 million); former provincial minister NWFP Ghaniur Rehman (misuse of authority/land acquisition), ex-provincial minister Habibullah Khan Kundi (co-accused in acquisition of land) and former federal minister Mir Baz Muhammad Khetran (misappropriation of government funds allocated for people's works programme, Rs21 million).
Similarly, government servants are ex-principal secretary to PM Muhammad Ahmad Sadiq accused of amassing assets beyond means involving Rs25.7 million; chief secretary Javaid Ahmed Qureshi (co-accused in fraud in ZCL's Lahore contracts); Pakistan's ambassador to US and ex-secretary information and broadcasting Hussain Haqqani (co-accused in the BB case of FM Channels involving Rs18.15 million); ex-secretary commerce Brig (retd) Aslam Hayat; ex-secretary finance Javed Talat and ex-secretary commerce Salman Farooqi (all co-accused in ARY Gold case); ex-chairmna CBR A. R. Siddiqui (co-accused in SGS case), ex-principal secretary to the PM Saeed Mehdi (co-accused in polo ground case); ex-chief executive CAA Raees M. Irshad (corruption in the construction work of Islamabad international airport amounting to Rs2.195 million); ex-PCP chairman Peer Mukarramul Haq (corrupt practices amounting to Rs23.195 million and Rs1.7 billion); Usman Ghani Khatri of the Privatisation Commission of Pakistan (corrupt practices worth Rs695 million; former spy master Brig (retd) Imtiaz Ahmed (assets beyond means worth Rs233 million and $1.9 million), ex-chairman Pakistan Steel Mills Muhammad Usman Farooqui (causing losses to mills of Rs43.285, Rs15.9 and Rs157 million); ex-secretary commerce and now secretary to president Salman Farooqui (coaccused in Nayyer Bari case of Rs3.88 million); ex deputy director (immigration) FIA Chaudhry Muhammad Sharif (assets beyond means Rs3.258 million); ex-chairman PACO Javed Burki (misuse of authority amounting to Rs1.7 billion) and others.
