Rehman Malik, Jehangir Badar helped Tauqeer Sadiq escape, NAB tells SC

SC gives a week's time to NAB to file references against people responsible to appoint, protect Sadiq.

ISLAMABAD: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Thursday revealed that Interior Minister Rehman Malik and Pakistan Peoples Party Senator Jehangir Badar allegedly helped former chairman of Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra), Tauqeer Sadiq, escape the country, Express News reported.

The Supreme Court gave a week’s time to NAB to file references against people responsible for appointing Sadiq and giving him protection.

The national watchdog said that the names of the two officials came up in the investigation.

NAB informed a two-member bench of the Supreme Court that Prime Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf had approved Sadiq’s appointment. He is the main accused in the multi-billion-rupee scam in the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra).

Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry had earlier directed NAB to arrest Sadiq by January 22, however, he continues to dodge his pursuers.

Justice Jawad S Khwaja said that NAB was not as “innocent” as it posed to be. He said that it appeared as though the NAB team had gone on a “camel to chase Sadiq.”

He said that NAB, police, Federal Investigation Authority (FIA) and the foreign ministry were responsible for helping Sadiq flee Pakistan.