Getting off the Hook

Virtually all the high-ranking members of the coalition govt benefit from the amendments to the NAB law

LAHORE: After regime change, and the Sharifs’ ascension to power, the amendments made to the National Accountability Ordinance (NAO) 2000 by the PML-N-led coalition government and their control over federal institutions have ended up benefiting over 90 per cent of those in power who were facing graft and corruption cases. Meanwhile, the filing of endless cases against the leaders of the Opposition, the PTI, is continuing with impunity.

Some of the top beneficiaries of the amendments in recent weeks and months include Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and his family. To begin with, there is the case regarding the illegal allotment of 1,400 kanals of government land near Lal Suhanra National Park. This case will be directly affected by the recent amendments as the amount involved in this matter is less than Rs 500 million. There is another matter regarding the misuse of authority by the current Prime Minister and others, which will be affected as the amount involved in this alleged scam is also less than Rs 500 million.

Then there is the inquiry against Shehbaz Sharif and others regarding the illegal use of the Prime Minister’s  jet from 2014 to 2018. This too will in all probability be dismissed under Section 5 (o) of the NAB Amendment Act 2022.

A total of six cases against Nawaz Sharif will also be affected in view of the recent amendments in the NAB law.

Shehbaz Sharif was also given major relief in a Rs.16 billion money-laundering case when, on October 12, 2022, a special court acquitted the Prime Minister and his son, former Punjab Chief Minister Hamza Shehbaz. The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), which is directly under the control of the federal government, argued in favour of the accused duo, contending  that there is not even a single direct allegation against Prime Minister Shehbaz and his son Hamza which could establish their guilt in the case. Ironically, the Federal Investigation Agency had registered the case against Shehbaz Sharif and his sons Hamza Shehbaz Sharif and Suleman Shehbaz in November 2020 over their alleged involvement in the same money-laundering case.

As a result of the amendments, the famous 2018 Ramzan Sugar Mills reference in which the current Prime Minister, Shehbaz Sharif, and his son Hamza Shehbaz were indicted, has also been returned to the NAB. Shehbaz Sharif was arrested for this case in October 2018 and remained in jail until February 2019 when he was granted bail by the Lahore High Court.

According to NAB, Shehbaz Sharif, in his capacity as the Chief Minister of Punjab, had ordered the construction of a drain in Chiniot district to benefit the sugar mills owned in the area by his two sons, Hamza and Suleman. NAB had alleged that Shehbaz and Hamza Sharif  had “fraudulently and dishonestly” caused a Rs 213 million loss to the national exchequer.

In October, 2019, an accountability court in Lahore had declared Suleman Shahbaz, son of Prime minister Shahbaz Sharif, a proclaimed offender in a money-laundering case against the Sharif family and issued fresh non-bailable arrest warrants against him. The NAB had alleged that assets worth Rs 3.3 billion had been identified so far as illegally accumulated by Hamza Shahbaz, Suleman and their father Shahbaz Sharif. It said the whole family had committed massive money-laundering in the name of foreign remittances and loans.

In 2018, Suleman had appeared before the NAB Lahore regarding the provision of records of his family’s property. However, subsequently Suleman skipped several hearings of the NAB and left the country. Later, on July 15, a special (central) court declared Salman Shehbaz a proclaimed offender in the Rs.16 billion money-laundering case, due to his continued absence from court proceedings.

He returned to Pakistan on December 11, after four years in self-exile and secured 14 days protective bail from the Islamabad High Court (IHC) in the money laundering-case and NAB reference. Now it is highly unlikely that he will be convicted in the money-laundering case because the court has already acquitted prime suspects PM Shehbaz Sharif and Hamza Shehbaz in the case.

In July 2018, an accountability court had sentenced Maryam Nawaz to seven years in prison and imposed a fine of two million pounds on her. She was also disqualified from holding public office.  On September 29 this year, the Islamabad High Court set aside the conviction of the PML-N Vice President handed down by an accountability court in the Avenfield reference four years ago and acquitted her. It is believed that Maryam’s acquittal has paved the way for Nawaz Sharif’s exoneration in the same case.

Finance Minister Ishaq Dar returned to Pakistan in November this year after ending his five year self-exile to take advantage of the amendments in the NAB law. The anti-graft watchdog’s reference against him for possessing assets beyond known sources of income was submitted to the court in September 2017 on the recommendations of the apex court in its Panamagate verdict.

The NAB had alleged that Dar had “acquired assets and pecuniary interests/resources in his own name and/or in the name of his dependents of an approximate amount of Rs 831.678 million.” After his indictment in September 2017, Dar left the country and remained in self-exile for the following five years. During this period, he was declared a proclaimed offender and on December 11, 2017, an accountability court also issued perpetual warrants against him.

Last month, an accountability court in Islamabad ended corruption proceedings against Finance Minister Ishaq Dar by returning the reference of assets beyond known sources of income to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB). The court declared that it was no longer the court’s authority to decide such matters after the recent amendments to the accountability law.

However, in September this year, the warrants were suspended until October 7, giving Dar a fortnight to surrender to the law. Ishaq Dar returned to the country after concluding his visit to New York and London on September 26 and appeared before the accountability court on September 28 in the assets reference, right after taking oath of office as Federal Minister.

Against this backdrop, the investigation against Ishaq Dar regarding the illegal appointment of the ZTBL CEO in violation of the Nationalisation Act 1974 will also almost certainly end in the wake of the NAB amendments.

The amendments also significantly helped Asif Ali Zardari. The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) in October this year approached the Islamabad High Court (IHC) to withdraw its four appeals against the PPP co-Chairman and partner in coalition government Zardari’s acquittal in the 25-year-old references. The country’s accountability watchdog, which had filed these references in 1990, insisted before the court that pursuing these cases was futile as the available evidence didn’t comply with the law.

In 2020, the anti-graft watchdog had informed the IHC that records of four old references filed against Mr Zardari in the 1990s had gone missing. And now, following the amendments, the IHC accepted the NAB request for dismissal of the appeals.

The PPP leader had also been acquitted in 2014 and 2015 in the references going back to the 1990s. On Nov 24, 2015, the Islamabad accountability court had exonerated Zardari of the charges of using his official position for monetary benefits in the 1998 SGS-Cotecna corruption references. The references accused Zardari and former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto of receiving six per cent of the total amount as kickbacks for awarding pre-shipment inspection contracts to SGS and Cotecna.

In regard to the ARY Gold reference, Ms Bhutto,  Zardari and others allegedly allowed ARY Gold owner Haji Abdul Razzaq to import gold and silver without paying duty between 1995 and 1997, inflicting a hefty loss to the national exchequer. However, in 2014, the accountability court acquitted Zardari in the ARY Gold and Ursus tractors references, the latter regarding the alleged misappropriation of funds in buying 5,900 Russian and Polish tractors at a cost of Rs150,000 each for the Awami Tractor Scheme.

The tractors’ purchase deal allegedly caused a Rs 268.3 million loss to the former Agriculture Development Bank of Pakistan (now the Zarai Taraqiati  Bank Limited) and a Rs 1.67 billion loss to the State Bank of Pakistan. In December last year, NAB informed the IHC that the original record of the reference had gone missing.

The inquiry regarding the offence of assets beyond known sources of income against PPP Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari, and his sister Faryal Talpur has also been dismissed on account of the NAB amendments.

The inquiry against JUI-F Chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman is also likely to be ended soon, as the property mentioned in the case in the name of the accused person is of a nominal amount, and a linkage of the benamidars in light of the new amendments to the NAB act will be very difficult to prove.

Last week, a special court (Control of Narcotics Substance)  acquitted Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah Khan and others in a drug recovery case made by the Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF) in 2019 after the witnesses in the case stated they had no knowledge about the facts of the case.

ANF Assistant Director Imtiaz Ahmed and Inspector Ehsan Azam submitted their affidavits in the court, dismissing the allegations against Rana Sanaullah as ‘false.’ In the affidavit submitted in the court, the ANF officials said that they were present at Ravi Toll Plaza on July 1, 2019, when Rana Sanaullah was arrested, but they never saw any drugs recovered from the crime scene.

After they rescinded their evidence, the court acquitted the Federal Interior Minister and all other persons named in the case.