Scam: Rs54b embezzled in ISAF container case, SC told

ISLAMABAD:

The Supreme Court was informed on Monday that an amount of Rs54.73 billion had been embezzled in the International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) containers’ case, and that individuals involved in the scam held stay orders from the High Court.    

This was revealed by Rana Shamim, a counsel for Federal Board of Revenue, to a three-judge bench comprising Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, Justice Gulzar Ahmed and Justice Azmat Saeed during the hearing of the implementation of Isaf containers scandal.

During the proceedings, Shamim apprised the court of the hurdles in recovering the amount as almost all of the transporters involved in the case were Afghans who worked under bonded contracts.

The counsel further stated that so far 11,589 show cause notices have been issued against 32,460 containers. Justice Azmat remarked that out of 11,589 show cause notices only 96 contained orders which is a very meagre number. The CJ remarked, “It is only the tip of an iceberg, there are more things to come out.” 

Published in The Express Tribune, March 5^th, 2013.