Huge losses incurred in defending Aafia

PM approved $2 million to meet Dr Aafia Siddiqui’s legal expenses, of which there is no trace of $141,775.

ISLAMABAD: The prime minister had approved $2 million to meet Dr Aafia Siddiqui’s legal expenses, of which there is no trace of $141,775.

A report submitted by the ministry of foreign affairs to the Senate standing committee on interior affairs, revealed on Thursday that the government had also lost $9,225 due to exchange rate conversion of $2 million for the Attorney’s Trust Account made for Siddiqui.

A US court awarded an 86-year jail sentence to Siddiqui, a Pakistani national on charges of involvement of using weapons against an American soldier in Afghanistan.

The report indicated that there were no criteria when attorneys were hired by the Pakistan embassy in Washington. The legal team consisted of three reputed attorneys, Linda Moreno, Charles Swift and Elaine Sharp, on the written request of Siddiqui’s family.

However, Dr Fauzia Siddiqui, the prisoner’s sister informed the standing committee that her family had never asked the government to hire these firms.

Chairman of the Committee, Senator Talha Mehmood and Senator Haji Adil, said the money was wasted by high officials as Siddiqui never trusted the legal team. “Dr Aafia’s family recommended three lawyers, who were never allowed to plead her case,” they said.

The report continued to say that the Ambassador to Pakistan Hussain Haqqani formed a committee of three officers to ensure transparency and monitor the expenditure of the Attorney’s Trust Account.

It was further revealed that an amount of $100,000 was given to Siddiqui’s Legal Fund and $0.75 million were transferred to the Swift & McDonald law firm in three transactions in November 2009. Additionally, an amount of $0.5 million was transferred to Linda Moreno.  Sharp Family 209 Trust, another law firm, also received $0.5 million in August 2009. An amount of $1.4 million were spent on the legal team hired to plead Siddiqui’s case.

Meanwhile, the committee directed Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir to conduct an internal audit of the money spent on the legal team and submit its detailed report at the next meeting.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 5^th, 2010.