Tauqir Sadiq faced serious life threats: brother

ISLAMABAD: Tanvir Sadiq, brother of former chairman Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) Tauqir Sadiq, has claimed that his brother was facing serious threat to life, that is why he had fled from the country, Geo News reported Tuesday.

While talking to the media representatives here today, Tanvir Sadiq revealed the reason of his brother Tauqir Sadiq’s escape from the country and told that the later had life threats.

When questioned about the culprits behind those threats, Tanvir refused to expose the sources and said that he could not put his life in danger by answering that question.

He told that when Tauqir Sadiq finally decided to return, he was arrested in the UAE.

When asked about returning the embezzled amount of Rs82 billion, Tanvir Sadiq told that his brother has only few thousands in his account and termed the scam case as a myth.

He said that truth will be unearthed in the court.

Tauqir Sadiq is allegedly involved in a Rs82 billion scam and was shifted to Pakistan from the UAE early Tuesday morning.

Sadiq was brought back to Pakistan by a National Accountability Bureau (NAB) investigator Waqas Ahmad Khan through a private airliner, which landed at the Islamabad’s Benazir International Airport here today morning.

The accused was shifted to the NAB headquarters in Rawalpindi and is expected to be produced before the Supreme Court of Pakistan.

The Supreme Court had ordered the NAB, Pakistan’s top anti-corruption body, to arrest him after declaring his appointment as OGRA chief illegal last year.

The accused, however managed to leave Pakistan despite his name was put on the Exit Control List (ECL).

It may be mentioned here that the authorities in the UAE and Pakistan had warned that a sophisticated assassination attempt could be carried out against the high-profile fugitive during his travel from the Islamabad Airport to a NAB detention centre in the federal capital.

Sources in the NAB said the authorities had received information that two persons belonging to Central Punjab have been paid a huge sum of money to attack the NAB convoy carrying Sadiq from Islamabad Airport to a NAB detention centre.

The precise information was conveyed to the bureau by the UAE authorities including the name of one of the possible attackers, potentially hired by influential elements who don’t want Sadiq to disclose their names during investigations. The attacker’s name is believed to be Zeeshan.