Rs83b scam: NAB report says former OGRA chief mishandled money
Report submitted to SC also names member finance and member Ogra in the scam.
ISLAMABAD:
A report submitted by the National Accountability Bureau in the Supreme Court on Tuesday has named a former Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) chief in a scam of Rs83 billion, Express News reported.
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.
A report submitted by the National Accountability Bureau in the Supreme Court on Tuesday has named a former Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) chief in a scam of Rs83 billion, Express News reported.
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.