Ex-OGRA chief: Tauqir Sadiq shifted to central jail of Abu Dhabi

May land in Pakistan on Saturday; NAB team flying to Dubai to bring him back.

LAHORE:

Despite the ‘hectic efforts’ of some influential dignitaries, finally the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has succeeded to complete the process of bringing Tauqir Sadiq to Pakistan from UAE.

The politically well-connected Tauqir Sadiq, former chairman of Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) and the principal accused in a Rs83 billion scandal would be flown to Pakistan in next couple of days, sources familiar with the matter told The Express Tribune.

According to sources Sadiq is expected to reach Pakistan on February 16 and in this regard a two-member team comprising SSP CTD Rawalpindi Rana Shahid and NAB Investigation Officer of Ogra case Deputy Director Waqas Ahmed Khan will leave for UAE on Friday (today).

The two-member bench of the Supreme Court in its last hearing had ordered NAB and all other concerned that Sadiq should be in Pakistan till February 18.

The detention period of Tauqir Sadiq in UAE’s Khalildia Detention Centre ended on February 14 but he was not released and shifted to central jail of Abu Dhabi, sources said.

Sadiq has been shifted to prison by the emirate’s authorities to make sure that he is deported to Pakistan.

While NAB was trying its best to arrest Sadiq and produce him in court as per Supreme Court’s orders, some very powerful personalities in the government kept sheltering the high profile fugitive. Finally, when Sadiq was cornered in Dubai, his backers tried to make sure that he remains in UAE instead of coming to Pakistan to stand trial.

The Pakistani authorities had asked for an extension in the period of Tauqir Sadiq’s detention, apparently to make sure that he stays in UAE instead of coming to Pakistan to stand trial. However, the local immigration authorities due to expiry of visa and Pakistani passport on special request of NAB and Punjab police and in the light of Pakistan’s Apex Court’s orders shifted Sadiq to central jail Abu Dhabi to ensure his deportation to Pakistan.

Sources claimed that FIA Additional Directors Faqir Mohammad and Anwaar Qureshi, nominated by the interior ministry and DG FIA, have been detailed to try to stop the deportation of Sadiq by complicating the case through demand of extradition instead of deportation.

FIA has taken up the matter of Tauqir Sadiq with UAE authorities through Interpol under extradition process and because Pakistan has no treaty with UAE regarding handing over citizen to each other country the step is bound to complicate Sadiq’s case, sources claimed.

An FIA official, Javed Riaz, who is posted in Muscat, has also been directed to reach UAE to ‘assist’ the FIA team in this regard.


Published in The Express Tribune, February 15^th, 2013.