Corruption case: NAB rejects reports of Tauqir Sadiq’s return

Sources say there has been a delay in deporting former OGRA chief.

The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has rejected claims that the main accused in the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) corruption case, Tauqeer Sadiq, has been brought back to Pakistan through the help of Interpol.

A TV channel reported late Thursday night that NAB’s spokesperson denied reports that Ogra’s former chairman had been escorted back. Sources said that the Interpol officer in Pakistan has informed the bureau that there has been a delay in getting Sadiq back to the country.



NAB’s Rawalpindi director is expected to leave for the UAE today (Friday) to ensure his return, the report further claimed.

Earlier on Thursday, media reports suggested that the former Ogra chief was flown to Islamabad from Dubai via Pakistan International Airlines flight PK 212.

The Supreme Court had taken a suo motu notice of corruption allegations against him and had ordered to arrest him and bring him back to Pakistan. Sadiq is suspected of embezzling Rs83 billion. He fled after the Supreme Court declared his appointment illegal on November 25, 2011, and ordered the anti-corruption watchdog to investigate his case.



A three-member team – comprising SSP Rana Shahid, NAB Rawalpindi Director Investigation Irfan Baig and NAB Deputy Director Waqas Ahmad Khan, who is also the investigation officer of the Ogra scam case – were sent to the UAE after the country’s top court directed authorities to ensure that he is deported from the custody of the UAE authorities before February 14 when his detention ran out there.

Media reports had claimed that the Pakistani team that went there to make the arrangements for his arrest and bring him back had also returned home through the same flight.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 1^st, 2013.