Coincidence?: NAB officer in Tauqir Sadiq probe finds residence sealed

Waqas Khan was to leave for the UAE to carry out his deportation.

LAHORE:

The residence of a National Accountability Bureau (NAB) officer probing the multi- billion-rupee Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) scandal was sealed by the Capital Development Authority (CDA) on Tuesday, The Express Tribune has learnt.

Investigation Officer Waqas Ahmed Khan’s vehicle was also seized in the raid carried out by officials of the CDA and Islamabad Police.

The development comes just a day after the Supreme Court ordered the immediate deportation of Ogra chairman Tauqeer Sadiq from the UAE. Sadiq is suspected of embezzling Rs83 billion. He fled to the UAE in 2011, after the Supreme Court declared his appointment as Ogra chairman illegal.

According to sources, Waqas was meant to fly to the UAE to complete Sadiq’s deportation process.  Unconfirmed reports suggested that he was scheduled to fly out late Tuesday night, sources familiar with the matter said.

They added that the NAB official was also meant to appear before the Accountability Court in Rawalpindi and complete the procedure regarding completion of a red warrant against Sadiq.

Waqas, however, was unable to appear before the court following Tuesday’s raid in his guest room in Islamabad. He has informed the Supreme Court through the court’s registrar as well as NAB higher authorities of the incident, adding that he believed it was meant to create obstacles in the investigation of the Ogra case and to prevent the arrest of Sadiq and others accused.



On Monday, Waqas had presented a letter before the Supreme Court regarding alleged ‘interference’ by Prime Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf in the Ogra scandal.

Prime Minister Ashraf is also one of the accused in the case of the former chairman’s illegal appointment.

During a video conference held earlier, the NAB chairman said that Waqas along with Asghar Khan, the IO in the RPPs case, will immediately be shifted to safe houses for security, since both their cases were of a sensitive nature.

However, Waqas was not provided a safe house and was placed in a guest house, sources said.

NAB’s version

A spokesperson for NAB, while talking to The Express Tribune, said the bureau’s senior officials have taken serious notice of the incident and have initiated an inquiry to determine whether the CDA’s action was routine or done at the behest of someone to block investigations of the case. The NAB spokesperson further said that case records were in safe hands but Waqas’ vehicle was still in the custody of the CDA.

CDA’s stance

A CDA spokesperson, meanwhile, clarified in a statement that the CDA was carrying out an across the board operation against the non-conforming use of residential buildings in different areas of the federal capital. Tuesday’s raid had nothing to do with the sealing of Waqas’ residence in particular, he said. He added that the CDA carried out a raid in a house owned by Abdul Majeed (which was being used as a guest house where Waqas was staying). He further said that the CDA have not stopped the NAB officer from collecting his vehicle and other belongings.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 13^th, 2013.