NAB to file references against Raisani, aide despite approval of plea bargain

References will be filed in court within two weeks

QUETTA: The National Accountability Bureau will file references against Balochistan’s former finance secretary Mushtaq Raisani and a contractor Sohail Majeed Shah despite the approval of a plea bargain deal with the accused in a mega corruption scandal.

These references have been prepared and will be filed in an accountability court within two weeks.



The anti-graft watchdog on Wednesday accepted the accused’s plea bargain applications after they offered to return Rs2 billion to the national exchequer. Raisani was taken into custody on May 6, 2016 after a NAB team had recovered sensitive documents and Rs603 million in cash in a raid at his residence.

According to NAB authorities, Raisani and Shah — the front-man of Balochistan former chief minister’s adviser on finance Khalid Langove — had submitted plea bargain applications which were approved during NAB’s executive board meeting with Chairman Qamar Zaman Chaudhry in the chair.

Plea bargain, a provision under the National Accountability Ordinance 1999, allows people involved in graft to pay a certain portion of the embezzled money and be released without stigma. However, the top court in October asked NAB Chairman not to approve deals for voluntary return.



“Plea bargain was the only speediest option to get back the embezzled money from the accused which belong to people of Balochistan,” NAB Balochistan Director General Major (retd) Tariq Mehmood Malik said on Friday, adding that reference would also be filed against the CM’s former adviser on finance.

He said through plea bargain, NAB has been able to recover approximately Rs3 billion against Rs2.24 billion embezzled in Balochistan mega corruption scam. “NAB has made a history by recovering Rs3 billion. The recovered amount will be handed over to the Balochistan government enabling it to spend it on the welfare of the people of Balochistan,” he said.

Malik said the amount misappropriated from the local government (LG) funds was meant for the uplift projects of Balochistan and as per law, plea bargain was the only speediest option to take back this money from the accused.



Refuting the volume of amount involved in the mega corruption case, NAB DG clarified that an amount of Rs6 billion was allocated in budget for the year 2015-16 as grant-in-aid to the local councils for salary, non-salary and development of local councils.

“The main reason for approval of plea bargain was that it is the speediest way for getting back the funds, which were embezzled and same, could be available to Balochistan government for current financial year. It will further strengthen case against the remaining accused,” he added.

Details of the case

Malik said NAB received information that the LG funds were being deviated in huge quantities to some specific constituencies and being embezzled. An inquiry was initiated in May 2016 on Municipal Committee Mach and Khaliqabad during which it was established that an amount of Rs2.31 billion was released to both the LG institutions.

“When physical trail of the amount released was conducted, it transpired that entire amount has been credited into 6 bank accounts of contractors, whereas on ground there was no physical expenditure or project,” Malik said.



He said further investigation revealed that the amount was being released directly on the request of administrator to secretary finance and the adviser and the amounts were being released to these committees by bypassing the LG department.

NAB official said after scrutiny of all records, ground check of the area was conducted that revealed that an amount of Rs2.24 billion was embezzled. The trail of the 6 bank accounts further revealed that the amount was used for purchase of the 11 properties which were later surrendered to NAB by the benamirdaars accountholders. The value of surrendered property stands at about Rs1 billion.

During further investigation, he said, it was established that money was also transferred to 26 accounts of contractor Shah as kickbacks and commission and during inquiry the accused applied for voluntary return which was rejected by NAB.

However, NAB collected irrefutable evidence against the accused. Later NAB accepted the plea bargain request of accused Mushtaq Raisani and Sohail Majeed Shah after they admitted their involvement in the mega corruption.

“The accused applied for the plea bargain of all assets, which surfaced during the course of investigation. The plea bargain was approved in NAB’s executive board meeting,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 24^th, 2016.