ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court (SC) on Wednesday admonished the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) officials for their professional incompetence while failing to recover billions of rupees from incumbent Prosecutor General Irfan Qadir and other prominent lawyers, involved in the Bank of Punjab loan scam.
“NAB officials were not rendering their professional obligations, and it seems that they had immense pressure from the high-ups in the case,” Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry observed while heading a bench, which was hearing a case of Rs 9 billion Bank of Punjab-Haris Steel Industries loan scam. Other members of the bench were Justice Ghulam Rabbani and Justice Khalilur Rehman Ramday.
The chief justice said if NAB had performed its function honestly, people would have not dared to take billions of rupees out of the country. “We are interested only in the recovery of looted public money, and the law will take its course as well,” the CJ remarked.
He said the case could be assigned to some other investigative agency that will also probe the NAB officials. He said the NAB officers were not honestly pursuing the case. The chief justice directed Raja Aamir Abbasi, Deputy Prosecutor General, NAB, to submit a report before the court today (Thursday) about the strategy for the recovery of money as, in the light of Sheikh Afzal’s statement, the new prosecutor general and other eminent lawyers were involved in the Rs 9 billion Bank of Punjab fraud case.
During the course of hearing, NAB submitted the statements of Sheikh Mohammad Afzal, owner of the Haris Steel Mills, and other witnesses regarding fees and alleged transfer of illegal gains to various lawyers and other private persons.
According to Sheikh Afzal, he paid Rs 1 million to Irfan Qadir, the incumbent Prosecutor General, NAB, to file a writ petition against the NAB proceedings. When Qadir failed to get him relief from the LHC, he later suggested him to engage a team of lawyers, comprisingWaseem Sajjad and Sharifuddin Pirzada, who can influence the court.
In his statement, Sheikh Afzal disclosed that he paid Rs 2 million to Waseem Sajjad and Rs 10 million to Pirzada. When, NAB raided Sheikh Afzal’s office, he hired the services of Dr Babar Awan and paid him Rs 5 million as legal fee. He gave Rs 35 lakh to Mohsin Naqvi, a journalist, and Rs 10 million to Malik Qayyum, the then attorney general. Malik Qayyum had assured him as he knew all the judges of the LHC, therefore, his problem would be solved.
During the last hearing, FIA officials told the court that one of the accused journalist, Mohsin Naqvi, who took money from Sheikh Afzal, a co-accused in the Rs9 billion Haris Steel Mills loan scam, had returned Rs 3.5 million to NAB.
Raja Amir informed the court that they had sent a reference against the lawyers mentioned in the report to the Pakistan Bar Council. The court also asked the NAB director as to why Sheikh Nisar had not yet been arrested. Khwaja Haris, counsel for the Bank of Punjab, submitted that Sheikh Nisar, the co-accused in the bank fraud, has been absconding for the last four months, and it seems he has gone underground.
He said Sheikh Nisar owed the bank Rs 530 million. He (Nisar) has real estate worth Rs 200 million. Khawaja Haris stated according to Sheikh Afzal’s statement, there were elaborate allegations against one of the lawyers, but he is made NAB’s prosecutor general. He said despite a heap of evidences, the NAB officials failed to take action against the accused.
At one stage, Justice Ramday observed that anyone who is sentenced by the court, the next day he gets higher position in the government. “It seems that everyone in the country protecting the thieves, and it was only the Supreme Court’s responsibility to nab thieves,” Justice Ramday said.
On the court query, Raja Amir said the president appointed the NAB prosecutor general on the advice of the NAB chairman. Earlier, Hamesh Khan, former president, Bank of the Punjab, was produced before the court after he was brought from Lahore under tight security.
The chief justice enquired Hamesh Khan whether he has been provided basic facilities like health and other besides allowing him to meet his family members. Hamesh informed the court that since his return from the US on May 14, 2010, he has been lodged in the Chamba House, Lahore, adding that basic facilities, including health, are available and his wife, Muneera Arif, was allowed to meet him once a week.
Muneera Arif, spouse of Hamesh Khan, also appeared before the court and expressed satisfaction over the facilities being provided to her husband. Mehmood A Sheikh, Hamesh’s counsel, however, requested the court that he should be allowed to meet his client in the absence of NAB officials, as one officer of the Bureau remains present during the meeting, and they could not discuss something openly.
NAB requested the court for more time to complete its inquiry into the Bank of Punjab scam. The chief justice said Hamesh Khan will get a fair trial as he respected the law of the country and returned home.
The chief justice directed Shahibzada Rafit Rauf, Director, Financial Crime, to take back Hamesh Khan and bring back on Thursday (today) regarding the case. During the course of the hearing, Haris Afzal, son of Sheikh Afzal, complained that his father was being kept in a death cell. He requested that his father should be provided with health facilities as he was a patient of Hepatitis C.
Meanwhile, the court directed the Prison IG to deal with Sheikh Afzal in accordance with the law and adjourned the hearing till today (Thursday). On September 27, 2007, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), Punjab, had filed a reference in an accountability court against 12 people, including six officials of the Bank of Punjab and six other accused of Rs 9 billion fraud. The BoP had granted a Rs 9 billion loan to the Haris Steel Industries (HSI), Lahore, without fulfilling legal requirements and consequently the Industries defaulted the loan.
Source: The News
Date:5/27/2010
