OGRA scam: Court denies bail to Sadiq, declares conviction void

The former Ogra chief is the prime accused in the Rs82 billion scam.

ISLAMABAD:

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Monday set aside the verdict of a trial court to send Tauqir Sadiq behind bars for three years.

The former chairman of the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) is the prime accused in the Rs82 billion Ogra scam.

A two- member bench of IHC comprising of Justice Riaz Ahmed Khan and Justice Noorul Haq N Qureshi accepted Sadiq’s appeal against his in absentia three-year conviction and set aside the previous order. However, he was still denied bail.

On May 7, 2013, a NAB court had sentenced him to three-year imprisonment under the NAB Ordinance after he repeatedly failed to appear before the court.

On Nov 25, 2012, the apex court had struck down Sadiq’s appointment as Ogra chairman, following which he was brought back to Pakistan by NAB officials on July 9 2013. The counsel for the petitioner, Sardar Asmatullah, argued that his client was convicted in absentia and was denied an opportunity to defend himself, a fundamental right given to every citizen.

He maintained that the former Ogra chairman was brought back to the country in July 2013, but he had already been arrested in March 2013. He claimed that during the hearing in SC on January 31, 2013, NAB authorities had informed the bench that it had already arrested his client.



Answering the bench’s question about NAB’s authority to convict a person in absentia, the bureau’s prosecutor Saeedur Rehman said that under section 31 of the NAB Ordinance, the authority can convict any person in absentia.

He argued that Sadiq failed to file an appeal in the initial 10 days as is required by law, and instead disappeared from the investigation conducted by NAB that he had joined on April 12, 2013, despite the fact that his name was on the Exit Control List (ECL).

He contended that on May 2012, his arrest warrant was issued and later in July 2013 he was brought back to the country through Interpol.

“He escaped to Afghanistan through the tribal areas, and then via Nepal, he moved to Dubai, where he was arrested by UAE authorities,’’ he added.

After the hearing, the bench accepted Sadiq’s appeal.

The main trial against Sadiq is pending in NAB and the court will take up the matter on November 18.

According to an interim reference presented by the bureau, Ogra board members Mansoor Muzaffer Ali and Kamal Farid Bijarani, and the chairman’s staff officer Jawad Jameel were also involved in the scam.

The reference says the former Ogra chief and the other accused provided undue financial relief to various firms and individuals while also issuing CNG station licences on bogus documents.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 12^th, 2013.