ISLAMABAD: A meeting of the National Accountability Bureau’s executive board failed on Monday to approve a much-awaited reference about Rs82 billion Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) scam.
It has already missed three deadlines fixed by the Supreme Court and the accountability court of Islamabad for filing the reference. Now it has been asked by the accountability court to submit the reference by Jan 2.
When contacted, NAB spokesman Ramzan Sajid linked the delay in finalising the reference to the efforts being made by prosecutors to collect credible evidence. “We hope that the reference will be filed before the deadline of Jan 2,” he said.
The spokesman denied that the delayed was caused by “pressure being exerted by influential persons”.
It is learnt that earlier the NAB had told the apex court that the amount involved in the scam came to Rs82bn but now it has become difficult for the bureau to prove this. “This is one of the reasons behind the delay,” a source in the NAB told Dawn.
The NAB launched an investigation into the scam on the directives of the court on Nov 2011. It has missed a 45-day deadline given by the court for filing the reference on Oct 8, 2013. A 10-days deadline given by the accountability court has ended on Nov 28. During interrogation of former Ogra chief Tauqeer Sadiq, the NAB has realised that it quoted an ‘unrealistic’ recoverable amount in the case as it can recover only around Rs1b from the accused which is around 1.2 per cent of the total amount.
The NAB has submitted a preliminary reference on alleged corruption and irregularities in Ogra. The final reference will also cover illegal appointment of Tauqeer Sadiq.
The NAB’s Rawalpindi regional office finalised a draft reference a couple of months ago and sent it to the headquarters for approval but it detected lacunae in it. Now the regional office and the headquarters are trimming the draft reference.
It is learnt that former prime ministers Yousuf Raza Gilani and Raja Pervez Ashraf have been accused of being involved in the “illegal” appointment of Tauqeer Sadiq as Ogra chairman.
Tauqeer Sadiq, who is presently under custody, was arrested in Abu Dhabi and brought to Pakistan on July 9. One of the main charges on Tauqeer Sadiq is that with his connivance the Sui Northern Gas Pipeline Limited and the Sui Southern Gas Company had received extra billing amount of Rs39bn from consumers.
Another allegation against him is that to manipulate the market he managed to raise the cost of SNGPL and SSGC shares in stock market from Rs19 to Rs45 and then reverted it to the original position. This reportedly caused a loss of around Rs500 million to the national exchequer.
According to the NAB investigation, Tauqeer Sadiq issued around 500 licenses for CNG stations and obtained Rs300,000 commission for each licence, amassing Rs150m in this way.
He is also accused of permitting shifting of some 80 CNG stations from their approved sites to other places and getting Rs300,000 commission for each case. In this way he might have collected Rs240m.
PROBE INTO APPOINTMENTS: The NAB board decided to investigate 250 fresh appointments in Pakistan Housing Authority (PHA).
Sources in the NAB said the investigation would focus on the role of senior officials of the NHA, including its former managing director Ghulam Rasool Phulpoto, in the appointments.