Rs83b scam: NAB report says former OGRA chief mishandled money
The report was submitted months after it was sought when Justice Jawad S Khwaja had declared the appointment of former Ogra chief, Tauqeer Sadiq, illegal over charges of misconduct and corruption in the issuance of compressed natural gas (CNG) station licences.
Member finance and member Ogra have also been named in the corruption.
The deputy attorney general had earlier told the apex court that the charge-sheet prepared against Sadiq carried 10 allegations including misconduct and a fake LLM degree.
He had said an inquiry committee had noted that the appointment of Sadiq as Ogra chairman was questionable.
Ogra had issued 306 licences for new CNG stations during fiscal year 2009-10 and 170 licences in 2010-11, violating a ban imposed by the government in 2008 because of severe gas shortages across the country.
Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry observed that a deal which was processed within two hours caused a loss of Rs36 billion to the national treasury. He said that the Ogra chairman issued notification for the deal which was forwarded to the Petroleum Ministry and the oil and gas tariff was upped by dollars per unit.
Justice Khwaja said that if this money was invested elsewhere, it would have improved the country’s situation.
The NAB inquiry officer informed the court that Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf, who was then the chairman of the interview board, had forwarded the appointment documents of Sadiq to the then prime minister, Yousaf Raza Gilani.
The chief justice asked NAB about the inquiries done in the scam.
The deputy prosecutor will tell the court about the steps that NAB will further take in the probe. Express News correspondent Faisal Shakeel said that there was a possibility of filing a reference case against the big fish involved in the scam.
NAB’s inquiry officer further revealed that ever since the case has emerged, Sadiq could not be arrested. He said that the Ogra chief is a “very clever” man and that he keeps changing his location and his contact so that he could not be tracked.
He also hinted that Sadiq might be protected by the government of Punjab, because currently, he is stationed in Punjab and still cannot be tracked.
Justice Khwaja told the NAB inquiry officer that he is cleverer than him and that he could manage to arrest Sadiq.
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@John: I got news for you John, US dollar is not backed by gold , we have been off the gold standard long time ago. Yes, dollar is backed by the US Economy because US has the largest economy in the world. I think you are unfair to some extent, we are the most violent country on earth as Martin Luther King said and the proof is in the the invasion of Iraq, as John Hopkins reported that we have killed more than half million Iraqis just to keep our comfort of life going. You should study our history, how many millions native Indians we have killed to be where we are today and not to speak of the slavery. Come off of this superiority complex , we are living in the world which is shrinking day by day and it would not be too far off that some third world countries could effect our comfortable living standard and as the Homeland Security says that it is not if but when some crazies will come up with "dirty bombs" and may even use it against us. Yes, Pakistanis has the most corrupt government but we have contributed to it a lot, how many dictatorships around the world we have been supporting and even today we would rather see military dictators than democracies in the third world, ie Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordon, Yemen and the list goes on and on.It seems with all our mighty forces and finances, we have not won in Afghanistan, this rag tag Taliban just will not go away and this is the fact which we are already realizing it, so get off this high horse my friend and don't be so condescending to others.
@ Rasheed,
Syria on the brink, Iran next , which country is the islamic borther of Iran and a nuclear power. Guess and i will give you 100 bucks.
@ Every Pakistani,
USA runs a parallel form of government in the form of USAID in Pakistan which has contributed in rehabilitation of power systems in all hydro projects (this is peanuts for us).
USA never asked to appoint a corrupt chairman for OGRA, I would ask to wait and see how OGRA misused authority for LNG terminal projects.
I appreciate feedback of all you Pakistani's but you see we every dollar printed by Federal Reserve Bank in US has the backing of gold and guarantee of our tax money, not like your currency which can even be printed on a trash paper.
For centuries to come we will control the world now and i simply don't like when beggars speak.
Happy Eid.
Nothing will change unless and untill exemplary punishments are awarded to the convicted and criminals; but selection of Rahman malik as sentor again has exposed the shallowness of the system
@John: John, you don't have info on how the world is working. USA is to be blamed for the larger part of destruction of Pakistan. Why there is corruption in Pakistan? U.S.A gives these elites and corrupts money and advise; and that's how they rule over poor people. What is the benefit of U.S.A.? answer = destabilize Pakistan from within. And it is happening in front of us. U.S.A is responsible for this. The majority of Pakistan is slowly understanding the U.S.A is damaging the Pakistan with free independent media and fearless judiciary system.
Judiciary is the only system that haven't been bought by U.S.A so far. It is highlighting the problem and not the corrupt government at present.
Only solution is to undo what U.S.A have done so far to Pakistan. And it will come from within Pakistan very soon, insha Allah.
@Jhon, though it's hard to accept, but you are so true...
Yes! NAB this man and recover all the amount. Please iluminate this dark side of our corrupt system. This bureaucracy is the most currupt part of our state and society.
@John: You managed to find something in this article against USA? Biased eyes cant see the true picture.
You Pakistani's destroy your own insitutions and economy with corruption and then blame USA.
When people can scam amounts bigger than what can even fit in my dreams without fear of any repercussions, there is a insurmountable problem with our society, the law and the judiciary.