LAHORE, Oct 11: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) informed the Lahore High Court on Thursday that it had formally sought legal assistance from governments of Japan and Indonesia about alleged corruption by officers of the ministry of foreign affairs in the sale of embassy buildings in Tokyo and Jakarta.

The bureau submitted a report of its initial inquiry into allegations of embezzlement in illegal sale of properties of Pakistan embassies in the two countries.

The report was submitted before Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial during hearing of a petition against the sale filed by Dr Qaiser Rasheed. The report said the market value of the buildings was ignored and possibility of kickbacks received by former ambassadors from contractors was being investigated and the relevant record had been requisitioned from the Foreign Office.

It said prior permission had not been sought from inter-ministerial committee in accordance with the required procedure nor any advertisement was placed in the press before the sale of the properties.

Kamran Niaz and Maj-Gen Mustafa Anwar Hussain, former ambassadors to Japan and Indonesia, had challenged the allegations and initial inquiry by the bureau. Their response, the report said, was under scrutiny. NAB said that both cases involved foreign jurisdiction and foreign nationals’ statements which had been pursued through mutual legal assistance with Japan and Indonesia. The complete report will be filed after the response is received.

After going through the report, the chief justice adjourned hearing for a date to be fixed by the registrar.

The petitioner had challenged alleged embezzlement and misappropriation of billions of rupees in the sale of embassy buildings.

He said that with dispose of his writ petition on April 15 last year the LHC had directed NAB’s director-general to inquire into allegations within 60 days.

He said the NAB authorities had failed to hold the inquiry and, therefore, violated the court order for which they should be tried and punished.