Fugitive found: Former OGRA chief traced to Kathmandu
Police team sent to arrest him confirms Sadiq’s presence in Nepal: NAB officials.
Police team sent to arrest him confirms Sadiq’s presence in Nepal: NAB officials. PHOTO: EXPRESS/FILE
ISLAMABAD:
On the run following his alleged involvement in a corruption scam totalling Rs82 billion, the former chief of the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA), Tauqeer Sadiq, has been traced to Kathmandu, Nepal. A police team sent to the Nepalese capital to arrest him has confirmed his presence there, sources in the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) told The Express Tribune.
In a meeting between the NAB and Punjab Police’s joint investigation team at the bureau’s office on Tuesday, police shared the information with NAB investigators. The police have ascertained that Sadiq first went to Dubai and then travelled to Kathmandu.
“He fled to Dubai most probably before his name was put on the Exit Control List (ECL), but the police were unaware how he got to Dubai,” said a NAB official. The JIT (Joint Investigation Team) is now responsible for explaining to the Supreme Court (SC) why they failed to arrest Sadiq and how he managed to flee abroad despite having his name on the ECL.
Earlier last week, the Punjab police chief told the SC that there was a possibility that Sadiq was in Kathmandu and that his family may have fled there in early December. Sadiq has been on the loose since it was determined that he was involved in the multi-billion rupee scam and NAB and Punjab Police were asked to arrest him.
Punjab Police chief Haji Habibur Rehman also visited the NAB headquarters in Islamabad on Tuesday, according to a NAB official. The police have told NAB that the team sent to arrest Sadiq in Kathmandu would need warrants to arrest him from there. “They would need to seek Interpol’s help,” said the official, requesting anonymity.
Meanwhile, the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) remains clueless on how Sadiq managed to evade them at Pakistani Airports and reach Kathmandu without registering his exit in the system.
An official of FIA told The Express Tribune that the agency had no date available on Sadiq’s travel to Kathmandu. The official added that his family flew to the Nepalese capital on December 10 via a Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) flight.
In the last SCP hearing, the court asked the FIA to produce the video footage and biometrics record from airports. They also asked the agency to share details on the flight his family used to travel to Nepal.
“Thousands flee the country illegally daily through multiple channels. The FIA has no mechanism to record these exits,” the FIA official said. “It is a probability that Sadiq used one such channel,” he added.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 2nd, 2013.
On the run following his alleged involvement in a corruption scam totalling Rs82 billion, the former chief of the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA), Tauqeer Sadiq, has been traced to Kathmandu, Nepal. A police team sent to the Nepalese capital to arrest him has confirmed his presence there, sources in the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) told The Express Tribune.
In a meeting between the NAB and Punjab Police’s joint investigation team at the bureau’s office on Tuesday, police shared the information with NAB investigators. The police have ascertained that Sadiq first went to Dubai and then travelled to Kathmandu.
“He fled to Dubai most probably before his name was put on the Exit Control List (ECL), but the police were unaware how he got to Dubai,” said a NAB official. The JIT (Joint Investigation Team) is now responsible for explaining to the Supreme Court (SC) why they failed to arrest Sadiq and how he managed to flee abroad despite having his name on the ECL.
Earlier last week, the Punjab police chief told the SC that there was a possibility that Sadiq was in Kathmandu and that his family may have fled there in early December. Sadiq has been on the loose since it was determined that he was involved in the multi-billion rupee scam and NAB and Punjab Police were asked to arrest him.
Punjab Police chief Haji Habibur Rehman also visited the NAB headquarters in Islamabad on Tuesday, according to a NAB official. The police have told NAB that the team sent to arrest Sadiq in Kathmandu would need warrants to arrest him from there. “They would need to seek Interpol’s help,” said the official, requesting anonymity.
Meanwhile, the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) remains clueless on how Sadiq managed to evade them at Pakistani Airports and reach Kathmandu without registering his exit in the system.
An official of FIA told The Express Tribune that the agency had no date available on Sadiq’s travel to Kathmandu. The official added that his family flew to the Nepalese capital on December 10 via a Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) flight.
In the last SCP hearing, the court asked the FIA to produce the video footage and biometrics record from airports. They also asked the agency to share details on the flight his family used to travel to Nepal.
“Thousands flee the country illegally daily through multiple channels. The FIA has no mechanism to record these exits,” the FIA official said. “It is a probability that Sadiq used one such channel,” he added.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 2nd, 2013.