Pakistan to contest London mission’s account row

Pakistan, while taking strong exception to debiting billions of rupees from the accounts of Pakistan High Commission in London, has decided to agitate the issue on all forums.

The development came after a high court in the United Kingdom had ordered debiting $28.7 million from the accounts of the Pakistani mission in London over non-payment of penalty by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to the foreign asset recovery firm Broadsheet LLC.

The asset recovery firm was registered in the Isle of Man in the Pervez Musharraf era and helped the-then government and newly established NAB to track down foreign assets purchased through alleged ill-gotten wealth.

Sources in the Foreign Office told The Express Tribune that the government “is seriously concerned over the UK high court order of a debit of Rs4.5 billion from the accounts of the Pakistan High Commission in the United Kingdom”.

There are reports that the Foreign Office has agitated the issue with the UK High Commission in Pakistan on Friday.

It is learnt that around Rs4.5 billion ($26,153,783.34) has already been debited from the accounts of the Pakistani mission in London.

Senior lawyers, who have expertise in international law, believe in addition to NAB, the Foreign Office is equally responsible for the loss to the exchequer by not evolving a prompt strategy after the December 17 UK high court order.

It is learnt that the Foreign Office pays the price of the absence of a law expert who is well-versed in international laws and could offer proper advice to the government in such matters.

The result is that officials in the Foreign Office depend on the advice of the Attorney General for Pakistan (AGP) office.

Interestingly, the UK high court passed the order on December 17. However, the Pakistani mission in the UK could not respond on time. The mission missed the opportunity of challenging the order in the UK Court of Appeal that it could do so until December 22.

Moreover, the AGP office was first consulted on the matter on December 29.

It is learnt that Attorney General Khalid Javed Khan had urged the Foreign Office to raise the account issue diplomatically as well as on legal forums, fearing it would set a bad precedent that might have far-reaching implications for the country in the future.

A senior official believes that although the London high court order could not be challenged as it was time-barred, debiting of the amount from the diplomatic mission was a serious issue that should be contested before the legal forum at any stage.

Sources told The Express Tribune that the AGP office and NAB are in touch and corresponding on the issue. The AGP office has written a letter to NAB, clarifying that with the closing of the litigation process, the office had no role to play, point out that it was NAB’s job to pay the amount on time.

It is learnt that the AGP office, in its letter, narrated the history of the case in order to clarify that how public exchequer had suffered a huge loss.

It is learnt that due to a delay in the payment, $5,000 interest added in the award payment daily. It is also learnt that the AGP office has advised NAB to clear the remaining amount to the firm.

Even at the time when the efforts to reach an out-of-court settlement fizzled out, a government committee had recommended NAB pay the amount but the same could not be done.

In November 2018, the London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA) awarded penalty of $17 million to the anti-corruption watchdog. Later, $3 million case cost was added to the award. In March 2019, the LCIA awarded $20 million final award.

However, NAB did not pay that amount. And due to interest rate, the award amount reached $28.7 million by December, 2020.

Earlier, the NAB officials had wrongly paid $5 million in the past. Now the country suffered around $14 million additional loss due to NAB’s negligence.

Senior lawyers have demanded of the government to take stern action against NAB officials responsible for the loss which over and above the litigation process of over Rs2 billion.