NA committee meeting with NAB chairman turns into in-camera briefing

ISLAMABAD: The meeting between members of the National Assembly's Standing Committee for Law and Justice and the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) chairperson Justice (retd) Javed Iqbal has been turned into an in-camera briefing.

The NA committee has summoned Justice (retd) Javed Iqbal to appear before it on May 22 after he asked to be excused from the previous session on May 16.

Sources have informed that the NAB chairman has confirmed his availability for the meeting scheduled on Tuesday.

Justice (retd) Iqbal is directed to give a briefing on the probe into allegations of money laundering against the deposed prime minister.

NA committee summons NAB chief on May 22 after excuse from appearance today

NA body had summoned NAB chief over inquiry against former premier, others for allegedly laundering $4.9 billion to India

The probe

On May 8, the anti-graft body had ordered an inquiry against Nawaz and others for allegedly laundering $4.9 billion to India. According to a NAB statement, the chairman took notice of a media report which made the claims citing a World Bank report.

However, the World Bank clarified that its report did not mention names or amounts, neither alleged money laundering.

SBP rejects $4.9 billion remittances to India

In a press release issued on September 21, 2016, the State Bank of Pakistan had rejected the estimates of $4.9 billion remittances from Pakistan to India.

“This number is given in Migration and Remittances Factbook 2016 prepared by the Global Knowledge Partnership on Migration and Development (KNOMAD).”

NA committee summons NAB chief over money laundering allegations against Nawaz

Committee orders NAB chief to be accompanied by officers involved in probe

The State Bank press release added that the Factbook data on bilateral remittance flows were estimates and not the actual flows which are based on a number of assumptions about the migrant stock, per worker income, etc.

“The methodology used to estimate these numbers is based on a World Bank’s Working Paper by Ratha, Dilip, and William Shaw ( South-South migration and remittances. No. 102. World Bank Publications, 2007). This methodology has serious issues, particularly in case of Pakistan, as also acknowledged by the authors themselves stating that “Interpreting the meaning of migrant stocks also presents some difficulties. Pakistanis in India and Russians in Ukraine became migrants following partition of the original country.”

The State Bank thus concluded that the study was clearly flawed as the migrants at the time of Indo-Pak partition in 1947 had become Pakistani citizens. The State Bank categorically rejected such estimates as there were contrary to facts and did not make sense.