Supreme Court directive: NAB asked to produce former OGRA chief on December 26

Tauqir Sadiq is accused of causing Rs82b loss to national exchequer when he headed the authority.

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court has given a six-day deadline to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) for producing the former chairman of Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority(Ogra),Tauqir Sadiq, who has been declared an absconder by the court.

A two member bench of Justice Jawwad S Khawaja and Justice Khilji Arif Hussain also directed IG Punjab Police and Motorway Police to make coordinated efforts with NAB to arrest Sadiq and present him before the court on December 26.

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

However, no progress has been made so far, while Sadiq has not been arrested either.

The court expressing concern over why Sadiq could not be arrested, noted that an Additional IG of Punjab Police was deputed to arrest the absconder.



The former Ogra chairman has allegedly caused a Rs82 billion loss to the national exchequer while serving with the authority.

Deputy Prosecutor General NAB Fozi Zafar informed the court that IGPs Punjab and Motorway Police were not cooperating with them. The court then summoned the two officials and adjourned the case for one hour.

After an hour, when the hearing of the case resumed the IGP Punjab Haji Habibur Rehman and IGP Motorway Zafar Iqbal Lak appeared before the bench and assured full cooperation with NAB for the arrest of the former Ogra chief.

Investigation Officer NAB Waqas Ahmed Khan told the court that NAB gave a tip to IG Motorway police when Sadiq was travelling through the motorway but the official did not respond.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 20^th, 2012.