Tauqir Sadiq case: Supreme Court questions NAB ‘laxity’

The bench rejects lawyer’s request to adjourn hearing till a review petition is filed.

ISLAMABAD:

The chief of the anti-corruption watchdog has been asked to explain in court why its orders were not being followed to bring back the former chief of the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority, Tauqir Saddiq, from the UAE.

The two-judge bench of the Supreme Court issued notices to the chairman of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), Admiral (retired) Fasih Bokhari, on Monday.

In November 2012, the court cancelled Sadiq’s appointment as OGRA chief after a corruption case surfaced against him. He fled to Abu Dhabi but the Federal Investigation Agency cancelled his passports and asked Interpol to help. Charges against Sadiq include embezzlement of Rs83 billion and the documenting of a fake masters degree for official purposes.



Directing the NAB chief to submit his response in the form of a report, the three-member bench headed by Justice Jawwad S Khawaja had decided to put off the hearing till March 7. Investigation Officer Waqas Ahmed informed the judges that Sadiq had to be brought back on February 27 but a trial court in Dubai extended the stay order for 10 days. The officer informed the bench that on February 22 he sent a report from Dubai explaining the problems with deporting Sadiq.



The NAB lawyer explained that the NAB prosecutor general had specially taken this file from him and he was unaware of its contents. He said they had sent capable officers to bring Sadiq back and were making a sincere effort to comply with the court’s orders. The NAB lawyer then requested the court to adjourn the hearing till a review petition is filed, but the bench turned down his request.

Questioning NAB’s role in allowing Sadiq to flee the country in the first place, Justice Khilji Arif Hussain asked if, “NAB has started protecting corrupt people instead of arresting them”. The court asked whether warrants had been issued against the people who had sent money to Sadiq’s wife.

The judges were also perturbed to learn that a NAB report on the deportation had been submitted much after the deadline. The bench also deemed the report “unsatisfactory”.

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