Ogra scandal: NAB team refused United Arab Emirates visa
The team was scheduled to depart for Abu Dhabi to take custody of Tauqir Sadiq.
Former Ogra chief Tauqir Sadiq. PHOTO: FILE.
ISLAMABAD/LAHORE:
The two-member NAB team scheduled to visit Abu Dhabi to bring back former Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) chairman Tauqir Sadiq will not leave due to non-issuance of visas by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) authorities, The Express Tribune has learnt.
The two-member team comprising NAB Deputy Director and Investigation Officer Waqas Khan and Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) Rana Shahid were scheduled to leave for Abu Dhabi on Tuesday, July 2, 2013, but due to non-issuance of visas they will not be able to complete the deportation process of Tauqir Sadiq.
On the other hand, UAE Interpol has refused to hand over custody of Tauqir Sadiq to NAB prosecutor Shumail Aziz, who had reached Abu Dhabi in advance on June 30, 2013, to complete legal formalities.
According to the UAE Interpol, Sadiq can only be handed over to an Investigation Officer and Arshad Jan Pathan, who is the Consular in Pakistan’s embassy in Abu Dhabi – as both are authorised persons and had signed the deportation documents, sources familiar with the matter revealed.
Earlier on June 19, 2013 former chairman Ogra had voluntarily surrendered himself in a one-page handwritten statement. The development comes after an Abu Dhabi court ordered the deportation of Tauqir Sadiq on June 3, with a 30-day period to file an appeal against the order.
The embassy, through a letter issued with the stamp and signature of Arshad Jan Pathan, Consular at Pakistan’s Embassy in Abu Dhabi, said Sadiq’s statement had been recorded by Counselor Welfare Affairs Farooq Langove, who is posted in Abu Dhabi.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 3rd, 2013.
The two-member NAB team scheduled to visit Abu Dhabi to bring back former Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) chairman Tauqir Sadiq will not leave due to non-issuance of visas by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) authorities, The Express Tribune has learnt.
The two-member team comprising NAB Deputy Director and Investigation Officer Waqas Khan and Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) Rana Shahid were scheduled to leave for Abu Dhabi on Tuesday, July 2, 2013, but due to non-issuance of visas they will not be able to complete the deportation process of Tauqir Sadiq.
On the other hand, UAE Interpol has refused to hand over custody of Tauqir Sadiq to NAB prosecutor Shumail Aziz, who had reached Abu Dhabi in advance on June 30, 2013, to complete legal formalities.
According to the UAE Interpol, Sadiq can only be handed over to an Investigation Officer and Arshad Jan Pathan, who is the Consular in Pakistan’s embassy in Abu Dhabi – as both are authorised persons and had signed the deportation documents, sources familiar with the matter revealed.
Earlier on June 19, 2013 former chairman Ogra had voluntarily surrendered himself in a one-page handwritten statement. The development comes after an Abu Dhabi court ordered the deportation of Tauqir Sadiq on June 3, with a 30-day period to file an appeal against the order.
The embassy, through a letter issued with the stamp and signature of Arshad Jan Pathan, Consular at Pakistan’s Embassy in Abu Dhabi, said Sadiq’s statement had been recorded by Counselor Welfare Affairs Farooq Langove, who is posted in Abu Dhabi.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 3rd, 2013.