Unearthing connections: Business partner helped Sadiq dodge NAB for months
Former chief of oil and gas regulatory authority (Ogra) Tauqeer Sadiq. PHOTO: FILE
Some fair-weather Arab friends helped former chief of oil and gas regulatory authority (Ogra) Tauqeer Sadiq to remain untouchable for the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) officers for several months.
Despite tracing the proclaimed offender Sadiq to the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the NAB investigators failed to arrest him for more than five months. “His business partner in Abu Dhabi went a long way to help Sadiq roam free,” said a NAB officer.
Besides providing a work permit for the former Ogra chief, his Arab business partner invested a lot of money to buy favours for Sadiq from the UAE authorities in his legal battle against NAB.
Sadiq’s escape to UAE via Afghanistan was pre-planned. His legal stay in the emirates had already been arranged for before his arrival.
Ex-chairman Ogra had invested Rs60 million in Sheikh Nasir al-Mazrohi’s company, who arranged for Sadiq’s work permit in the gulf state as a sponsor.
“All this was done before Sadiq left Pakistan,” a NAB officer claimed, adding, once in Ajman, Sadiq continued to allegedly receive money from Pakistan through illegal transactions.
Some unknown sources transferred between 30,000 and 35,000 dirhams to him every month, the NAB official has claimed.
Curiously, Sadiq made no effort to hide himself when NAB authorities with the assistance of Interpol traced him to the gulf state and moved for his deportation.
Despite repeated requests from the NAB authorities, Sadiq’s business partner refused to withdraw the sponsorship to the former OGRA chief.
“It was only after the NAB threatened to cancel Sadiq’s passport that the Sheikh agreed to withdraw the work permit but this caused a delay of months,” the NAB official said.
However, Sheikh al-Mazrohi continued to use his influence over the UAE authorities to delay court hearings in NAB’s case for Sadiq’s deportation to Pakistan.
Sadiq voluntarily surrendered before Pakistan’s mission in UAE after all his escape routes were effectively blocked by the NAB, the official added.
Former chief of oil and gas regulatory authority alleged of committing a scam of Rs83 billion fled Pakistan after the Supreme Court ordered NAB to arrest and investigate him for the alleged embezzlement. He was finally transferred to Pakistan last month and is currently under physical remand.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 10th, 2013.