Bank of Punjab scam: Haris Steel owners’ Rs3bn offer rejected

NAB decides to re-determine plea bargain amount for Sheikh Afzal’s family.

ISLAMABAD:

The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Thursday rejected a plea bargain offer of Rs3.077 billion made by Sheik Muhammad Afzal in the Bank of Punjab scam, according to an official statement.

“[NAB] decided to re-determine the ‘plea bargain’ amount as the principal amount borrowed by them [Afzal and his family] from the Bank is Rs8.404 billion,” added the statement. The decision was taken in a board meeting chaired by NAB Chairman Admiral (retd) Fasih Bokhari.

Sheikh Afzal, the owner of Haris Steel Mills, is currently being tried in the Bank of Punjab multi-billion scam after the Supreme Court (SC) had taken suo moto notice of the case.

Officials told The Express Tribune that Justice (retd) Malik Qayyum on Thursday voluntarily agreed to return Rs98 million to the aggrieved parties in the Aglam Global Links Private Ltd (Qasr-e-Zauk)case.

The executive board of the bureau approved the ‘voluntary return’ by Qayyum who was an illegal beneficiary in this case. He obtained money in the shape of 63 plots, depriving the remaining claimants of their shares, added the officials. The case was expedited on the directions of the SC.

The board meeting also approved a ‘voluntary return’ for Rs70 million submitted by World Automobiles as per rules for misappropriation of public funds in the supply of cars to the Canadian International Development Agency funded education project in Sindh.

They also authorised an inquiry against Chief Executive Officer Sohail Ahmed and Islam Akhtar Khan, Project Director of Gujranwala Tool Dies, and Moulds Centre, (GTDMC) for corruption and misappropriation of public funds. The inquiry was sent with directions to complete it within two months.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 23^rd, 2012.