Govt notifies Broadsheet commission

Cabinet Division also issues TORs for one-man commission

ISLAMABAD:

The federal government has notified a one-man inquiry commission – comprising Supreme Court former judge Azmat Saeed Sheikh – that will probe into the Broadsheet saga.

The Cabinet Division on Saturday issued the notification for the commission of inquiry along with its terms of reference (TORs). According to the notification, the commission will be empowered to constitute committees consisting of government officials and experts.

The commission will probe into the contracts signed by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) with the Broadsheet LLC and other international asset recovery (IAR) firms to unearth foreign assets made by Pakistanis through ill-gotten money.

It will also look into the reasons which led NAB to terminate the contract in 2003.

The federal cabinet on January 26 agreed to form the one-man commission under the Pakistan Commissions of Inquiry Act, 2017 with a broader mandate.

Earlier the government had announced to appoint Justice (retd) Sheikh as head of an “inquiry committee” to examine the circumstances relating to the NAB’s agreement with the UK’s assets recovery firm and the subsequent arbitration proceedings that caused considerable loss to Pakistan.

The two major opposition parties – the PML-N and the PPP – had rejected the government’s decision, citing Justice (retd) Sheikh’s past affiliation with NAB as creating a "conflict of interest".

However, despite the opposition’s strong reaction, the cabinet on Tuesday went ahead with Justice (retd) Sheikh’s name while also turning the committee into a commission.

The Broadsheet LLC was incorporated in the Isle of men to help Pervez Musharraf's government and the newly established NAB track down foreign assets purchased by Pakistanis through ill-gotten wealth.

After NAB terminated the contract in 2003, the Broadsheet LLC and another company involved as a third party filed for damages in a UK court.

It claimed that Pakistan owed them money according to the terms agreed upon since the government was taking action to confiscate some of the assets they had identified, including the Avenfield property owned by the family of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif.

The companies' claims against Pakistan were held valid by an arbitration court in 2016 and later by a United Kingdom high court that gave an award of over $28 million against Pakistan last year.

Broadsheet LLC arbitration decision came in 2016 – the same year when the Panama Papers had rocked Pakistan. However, nobody knew about it until a court in the United Kingdom ordered authorities to deduct $28.7 million from Pakistan High Commission’s account in London.