Musharraf-era NAB hired offshore company to track assets of 200 generals, tycoons, bureaucrats

ISLAMABAD: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) had engaged an offshore company for tracking down the offshore assets of more than 200 politicians, generals and bureaucrats but this engagement ended at litigation after the company accused NAB of using its information for brokering deals with the targets.

NAB later engaged an offshore law firm, Appleby, the data of which has now been leaked. The purpose of engagement was to get expert advice regarding litigation in the Council of International Arbitration with Broadsheet LLC. The company registered in the Isle of Man, Broadsheet LLC was contracted for the assets recovery. This offshore detective agency accused NAB of using its information for entering into deals with the target individuals and didn’t pay the share of investigating company as was promised.

NAB officials however claim the information shared by Broadsheet was not actionable, hence the detective agency’s work didn’t inspire them, resulting in termination of agreement.

In late 2014, NAB hired the services of Appleby for the “preparation of an expert report on Manx law for use in arbitration to be heard in January 2015 (CIArb 12912001: Broadsheet LLC (in liquidation) v Government of Pakistan and the National Accountability Bureau.”

Among other documents about the ongoing litigation, The News is in possession of the highly-classified agreement between NAB and Broadsheet LLC signed in June 2000 for tracking down the fortune abroad of over 200 International Assets Recovery (IAR) targets.

Top at the target list was Nawaz Sharif along with family. Benazir Bhutto as well as Asif Ali Zardari besides many noted politicians formed part of the list except Chaudhrys of Gujrat who were conspicuous by their absence from the list and presence in Musharraf’s camp by that time.

Some of them secured relief from the NAB after defecting from PPP (late Rao Sikandar, Faisal Saleh Hayat and Aftab Sherpao) and others by joining the PML-Q (Humayun Akhtar and Haroon Akhtar).

Former chiefs of army (Gen Mirza Aslam Beg), air force (Anwar Shamim and Abbas Khattak), and navy (Mansoor-ul-Haq and Saeed Muhammad Khan) in addition to Lt Gen (retd) Zahid Ali Akbar and Lt Gen (retd) Fazl-e-Haq were also listed. How much their fortune abroad was traced and what was recovered remain unknown except in the case of Admiral (retd) Mansoor who had entered into plea bargain.

Although, Benazir Bhutto, Asif Zardari and some other targets were initially dealt together with the Sharif family by Broadsheet, a separate arrangement was made later on with yet another offshore company, International Assets Recovery (IAR). That how many targets were assigned to IAR is not known, Broadsheet was handed a list of around 200 targets.

The agreement signed with Broadsheet LLC for the recovery of assets stolen through corrupt practices required this offshore company to provide professional, financial and other resources in order to locate and recover such assets.

The selection of target individuals, according to that agreement, was at the discretion of then NAB chairman Lt Gen (retd) Amjad when the names were shared with Broadsheet LLC. NAB was required under this agreement to “ensure confidentiality and non-disclosure of methods and resources employed by Broadsheet to locate, seize and recover such assets.”

As for the monetary compensation is concerned, Broadsheet would receive 20 percent of the money recovered from the target individuals no matter the tracing of assets was an outcome of NAB efforts or Broadsheet’s.

The parent organisation of Broadsheet is now in international arbitration against NAB which has been accused of breaching the agreement and unlawful termination. That NAB has quietly dealt with several target individuals about whom the information was shared, is the basic charge of Broadsheet that said it spent hefty money but was paid only a little amount by NAB.

Gen Pervez Musharraf wanted to improve financial integrity when the agreement was made but “unfortunately, the political winds quickly shifted and by late 2000 this anti-corruption crusade was beginning to retreat as part of a backlash from the reforms,” Broadsheet argued at an international legal forum.

The founding NAB chairman, Lt Gen (retd) Syed Amjad, and the first prosecutor general Farouk Adam Khan had resigned “due to unacceptable prevailing circumstances as NAB’s mission shifted from recovery of assets to the rehabilitation of the corrupt targets who then re-emerged as powerful figures in Pakistani politics.”

NAB entered into settlements and plea bargains with numerous targets without either notifying or paying Broadsheet its fee for the targets, the company alleged.

In one instance, Broadsheet froze approximately $5 million in the Isle of Jersey “belonging to an identified target” but the NAB stopped pursuing the case.

In another instance, NAB reached a settlement directly with a target allegedly valued at $25 million but refused to pay Broadsheet (IOM) its commission as per the agreement, the company alleged. For all of its work over several years, Broadsheet (IOM) was paid only one small fee in connection with a recovery from Admiral Mansour-ul-Haq, one of the listed targets, and the amount paid likely was less than it should have been under the terms of the agreement, it explained.

Target list contained the names of politicians, retired armed forces officers, bureaucrats and businessmen. Their names have been given below.

Officers from armed forces

Gen. (R) Mirza Aslam Beg, Lt. Gen. (R) Zahid Ali Akbar, Lt. Gen. (R) Fazl-e-Haq, Maj. Gen. (R) Shujaat Ali Bukhari, Admiral (R) Mansoor-ul-Haq, Admiral (R) Saeed Muhammad, Air Chief Marshal (R) Anwar Shamim, Air Chief Marshal (R) Abbas Khattak and Brig. (R) Imtiaz.

Bureaucrats

Salman Farooqui, Usman Farooqui, Wajid Shams-ul-Hassan, M. B. Abbasi, Shaukat Ali Kazmi, Ahmed Sadiq, Javed Khanzada, A. R. Siddiqui, Brig. (R) Aslam Hayat Qureshi, Capt. (R) S. Nasir, Masood Sharif, Shafi Sehwani, Shahid Rafi and Capt. (R) Naseer Ahmed.

Business persons

Sadruddin Hashwani, Behram D. Avari, Saeed Sheikh, Sultan Lakhani, Amin Lakhani, Zulfiqar Lakhani, Iqbal Lakhani, Muslim Lakhani, Abdul Razzaq Yaqoob, Younis Dalia, Hussain Lawai, Ali Jaffery, Riaz Laljee, Haroon Haji Kapadia, Asif Saigol, Abid Saigol, Arif Saigol, Shafiq Saigol, Shahid Saigol, Shahzad Saigol, Sarwar Ali, Rafique Saigol, Ch. M Anwar Hussain Sandhu, Nasrin Anwar, Khalid Hussain Chowdhery, Fauzia Bibi, Naseem Munawar, Syed Sameena Abrar, Zia-ur-Rehman, Naseem-ur-Rehman, Javed Sultan, Asadullah Sheikh, Asif Memon, Iqbal Memon, Jawaid Sultan, Asif Iqbal, Fauzia Ali Kazmi, Sheikh Abdul Shimveel Qureshi, Mahfooz Mustafa, Majid Bashir, Mohammad Asif, Mohammad Razi, Muhammad Saleh, Baddar-uz-Zaman, Mian Farooq Ahmed Sheikh, Mian Sohail Ahhmed Sheikh, Abdul Shakoor Ismail Kaloodi, Abdullah Kaloodi, Sadruddin Gangji, Hashim Gangji, Ch. Zahid Ahmed, Ch. Shahid Hameed, Bushra Zahid Hameed, Mian Shahzad Aslam, Mian Shamim Anwar, Mian Farrukh Naseem, Mian Mahmud Ahmed, Javed Ashraf, Saeed Javaid Tariq, Waqar Azim, Nusrat Azim, Shaukat Azim, Sajad Azim, Abdul Sattar Kerio, Dr. Ghani Ansari, Fareed Variani, Farida Ataullah, Habibullah Khan Kundi, Mian Muhammad Ali Tariq, Muhammad Sualeh, Naheed Khan, Nasir Waseem Khan, Nayar Bari, S. M. Ishaque, Saeed Javid Tariq, Sajjad Hussain, Shuja-ul-Hassan, Siraj Shamsuddin, Tahir Khan Niazi, Tufail Sheikh, Masood Shah, Syed Tahir Hussain, Anjum Tahir Hussain, Farah Nasir Hussain, Capt. S. H. Ather, Farnaz Amir Hussain, Sheikh Zameer Ahmed, Ayesha Aftab, M. M. Aslam Khan, Maryam Aftab, Dr. Jarir S. Djani, Ibrahim Fayyaz Humaid, Haider Ali Khan, Hassan Mehmood Siyal, Maj. (R) Jehangir Khan, Kh. Abdul Rehman Jami, Bilquees Akhtar, Noor Jehan, Kh. M. Yousaf, Kh. M. Abdullah, Aisha Farzana, Mehr Fatima, Kaneez Fatima, Abdul Shakoor, Hakiman Sheikh, Akhtar Ali, Qamar Jahan, Muhammad Bahauddin Pervaiz, Mohammad Saeed Khan and Shaleem Andrews.

Politicians and families

Mian Muhammad Sharif, Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif, Mian Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif, Mian Muhammad Abbas Sharif, Mian Hassan Nawaz, Mian Hussain Nawaz, Mian Hamza Shehbaz, Begum Kalsoom Nawaz, Begum Shamim Akhtar, Benazir Bhutto, Asif Ali Zardari, Aftab Ahmed Sherpao, Jehangir Badar, Khaqan Abbasi, Syed Ghous Ali Shah, Syed Abdullah Shah, Faisal Saleh Hayat, Shahida Faisal Saleh Hayat, Syed Asad Hayat, Anwar Saifullah, Azam Hoti, Ch. Sher Ali, Ghulam Mustafa Khar, Gohar Ayub, Gulzar Ahmed, Waqar Ahmed, Haroon Akhtar, Humayun Akhtar, Jam Mashooq Ali, Javed Hashmi, Manzoor Wattoo, Munawar Hussain Munj, Zulfiqar Magsi, Amir Magsi, Nadir Magsi, Nawab Yousaf Talpur, Rana Shaukat Mahmood, Ch. Ahmed Mukhtar, Dr. Zulfiqar Mirza, Khalid Kharal, Rao Sikandar, Rehman Malik, Sardar Mehtab Ahmed Khan, Fauzia Yousaf Raza Gillani, Aftab A. Sheikh, Nasreen Aftab, Islamuddin Sheikh, Noor Muhammad Sheikh, Nooruddin Sheikh and Naureen Sheikh.