NAB approves references against Shehbaz Sharif, Shahid Khaqan, former envoy

Anti-graft watchdog alleges assets beyond means, corruption in LNG contract, sale of embassy office in Jakarta

ISLAMABAD:

The National Accountability Bureau approved three corruption references on Tuesday pertaining to accumulation of assets beyond known means against members of the Sharif family, corruption in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and non-transparent dealings in the LNG-1 contract.

Chairperson of the anti-graft watchdog, Justice (retd) Javed Iqbal, approved the three references implicating various stalwarts of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), a former ambassador of Pakistan, and current and former officials of the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA), Pakistan State Oil (PSO) and others.

The first reference is against Shehbaz Sharif, Hamza Shahbaz Sharif, Salman Shahbaz Sharif and others, pertaining to accumulation of assets disproportionate to their known sources of income to the tune of Rs7,328 million.

According to NAB, the proceedings of the investigation thus far have revealed that Shehbaz Sharif and his co-accused family members, benamidars, frontmen, accumulated assets beyond known means of income.

The anti-graft watchdog claims that for the said assets, accused persons laundered their disproportionate funds under the garb of foreign remittances, loans, which have been proved to be fake/fictitious. The accused persons were also operating benami companies held in the name of their employees/associates to place the proceeds of crimes for their own benefits, claims the bureau.

The second reference pertains to corruption and corrupt practices in the sale of the Embassy of Pakistan building in Jakarta, Indonesia, has been approved against officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. NAB claims that during the period of 2001-02, Major General (retd) Syed Mustafa Anwar, who was at the time the Ambassador of Pakistan in Jakarta, sold the Pakistani embassy building at "a throwaway price".

The bureau alleges that this was done by the then ambassador through a non-transparent procedure without lawful authority. According to NAB, Anwar caused a loss of 1.32 million US dollars.

Meanwhile, the third reference is against former premier Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, his son Abdullah Khaqan Abbasi, Miftah Ismail, former chairperson of the Sui Southern Gas Company Limited (SSGC) board Sheikh Imranul Haq, former chief executive officer of Engro Elengy Terminal Private Limited (EETPL) and PSO managing director Agha Jan Akhtar, former chairperson of Port Qasim Authority Brigadier (Retd) Saeed Ahmed Khan, former chairperson of OGRA Aamir Naseem, former oil member at OGRA Uzma Adil Khan, former chairperson OGRA Shahid M Islam, former managing director PSO Husain Dawood, Chairperson Engro Abdul Samad Dawood, the director of Engro and others.

The anti-graft watchdog alleges that the accused awarded the LNG Terminal-1 contract through a non-transparent process. NAB claimed that the accused public office holders misused their authority in connivance with other accused to ensure wrongful gains to the EETL/ETPL/ECL amounting to Rs14.146 billion. Besides, they caused a wrongful loss of an estimated Rs7.438 billion for non-utilisation of unused capacity of the second LNG terminal of PGPL [Pakistan GasPort Limited] from March 2015 till September 2019, claims NAB.

According to NAB, the actions of the accused resulted in an estimated liability of Rs21.584 billion as of September 2019.

The anti-graft watchdog claims that further loss to be incurred for the next 10 years will amount to approximately Rs47 billion as the contract in question is to expire in March 2029.

The bureau alleges that during the time period in question, unexplained deposits amounting to Rs1.426 billion were received in the accounts of Abdullah Khaqan Abbasi, while Rs1.294 billion was deposited in Shahid Khaqan Abbasi's bank account during 2013-17.

The LNG Terminal deal in question was made during this time, claims NAB. It alleges that by concealing the said deposits and layering, the accused committed money laundering.