Current Final

Category: Politics

  • FBR goes after NAB for not paying Rs69 crores in taxes

    FBR goes after NAB for not paying Rs69 crores in taxes

    The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has served a notice to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) for costing the country a whopping Rs690 million (Rs69 crores).

    As per the details, NAB did not deduct 15% withholding tax while paying damages worth over Rs4 billion (Rs4 Arab) in the Broadsheet case.

    The News quoted sources as saying that a notice on behalf of the International Tax Department of FBR under Section 152 of FBR Ordinance was sent to NAB to pay the said amount.

    The notice said it had come to the knowledge of tax department that NAB had paid damages to Broadsheet LLC — the United Kingdom (UK) based company roped in during military ruler Pervez Musharraf’s regime to track down foreign assets purchased by Pakistani politicians “through looted money”.

    “NAB had to deduct 15% withholding tax and deposit it to the national exchequer at the time of payment under the Income Tax Ordinance, but it was not followed,” it said.

    The fine was paid to the UK-based firm after NAB ended with it the asset recovery agreement in 2003, pushing Broadsheet as a third party to move the London High Court for damages.

    The UK-based companies claimed that Pakistan owed them money according to the terms agreed upon since the government was taking action to seize assets identified by the firm, including the Avenfiled Apartments of the Sharif family.

    After much drama, an arbitration court of London had imposed a $20 million fine on NAB in the Broadsheet case. However, NAB had to pay an extra $9 million under the head of mark-up due to non-payment on time.

    The court in London had withdrawn over $28 million partially in this regard by freezing accounts of the Pakistan High Commission.

  • PTI’s likely candidates for Senate elections

    PTI’s likely candidates for Senate elections

    The ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) hasn’t announced its nominees for the upcoming Senate elections in March, but many of the party leaders, among them prime minister’s special aides, are vying for the Senate tickets.

    With the elections round the corner, the PTI believes it’s in a comfortable spot to undo the opposition majority in the upper house of parliament, and PM Imran Khan is confident that the post-polls Senate would be dominated by the government and its allied parties.

    Media reports say that PM’s Special Assistant on Accountability Shahzad Akbar, SAPM Zulfi Bukhari, party’s chief organiser Saifullah Niazi, Ejaz Chaudhry, Dr Zarqa Soharwardi and Tanzeela Imran among others are among the aspirants for Senate.

    Sources also claimed that Firdous Ashiq Awan, special assistant to CM Usman Buzdar, will be a nominee for the Senate seat.

    However, these names have yet to be finalised after a committee to choose the Senate nominees is established and the PM Imran Khan finalises the list and makes it public.  

    If Senate elections are to be held in March’s first week, then the party must choose its candidates and finalise the strategy by mid-February, reports quoted the party leaders as saying.

    BRING TAREEN BACK:

    Recently, PTI lawmaker Raja Riaz had asked the prime minister to make estranged PTI leader Jahangir Khan Tareen the chairman of the committee formed to choose the candidates for the Senate elections.

    During a parliamentary party meeting on Wednesday with PM Imran Khan in the chair, the PTI lawmaker, who hails from Faisalabad, had said that Tareen’s services for the PTI cannot be ignored and demanded that the senior leader be made the head of the committee.

    He had also asked the PM to include Punjab Governor Chaudhry Sarwar, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Amir Kiyani, and Ijaz Chaudhry in the body formed to choose Senate candidates.

  • Ex-ISI chief was working for India’s RAW?

    Ex-ISI chief was working for India’s RAW?

    The Ministry of Defence has opposed a request seeking removal of former Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) director general (DG) Lt Gen (r) Asad Durrani’s name from the Exit Control List (ECL), saying he had been “interacting with hostile elements” including Indian intelligence agency RAW since 2008 and was likely to be involved in future publications against the interest of Pakistan, Dawn reported.

    The spymaster had landed in trouble after co-authoring a book, “The Spy Chronicles: RAW, ISI and the Illusion of Peace”, with Amarjit Singh Dulat, the former head of India’s Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), in 2018.

    After the book’s publication, the Military Intelligence (MI) had written to the interior ministry to put Durrani’s name on the ECL and the same was done in May 2018. The former spymaster challenged the move in the Islamabad High Court (IHC) in 2019.

    In its para-wise comments submitted in response to Durrani’s petition in the IHC on Wednesday, the Defence Ministry said the ex-ISI chief’s name was placed on the no-fly list for “his involvement in anti-state activities”. It said a perusal of the book The Spy Chronicles revealed that it contained “certain contents concerning [the] national security of Pakistan, being in contravention of the provisions of the Official Secrets Acts, 1923”.

    “It is further highlighted that there are [a] number of such publications on the way, supported by hostile elements which contain content to create misperception, confusions, question marks against the top leadership circles at country level and to target the common people,” reads the ministry’s response.

    It added that Durrani had been “affiliated/interacting with hostile elements especially Indian RAW since 2008”, saying although he had submitted an affidavit “committing to refrain from such activities” to the government, the same had still not been seen “in tangible terms”.

    According to the ministry’s reply, Rule 2(c) of the Exit from Pakistan (Control) Rules, 2010, authorised the federal government to prohibit a person from exiting Pakistan for a foreign destination if the said person is involved in “‘acts of terrorism or its conspiracy’, ‘heinous crimes’ and ‘threatening national security’”.

    Moreover, it said Articles 15 and 19 of the Constitution clearly stated that the “freedom of movement and freedom of speech are subject to any reasonable restrictions imposed by [the] law in the public interest and integrity, security or defence of Pakistan”.

    It said Durrani’s name could not be removed from ECL “at this stage” because inquiries being conducted against him were being finalised. It said the former ISI chief wanted to travel abroad with the intention of participating in international conferences, forums and talks which will have “serious national security implications as evident from the recently published book ‘Honour Among Spies’” — which was also authored by Durrani and published “through Indian publishers/RAW supported elements”, according to the defence ministry.

    “Moreover, the petitioner also appeared on social media on October 12 and 13, 2020, and expressed his views which of course cannot be well received by any patriotic citizen,” the ministry stated, continuing to defend the placement of Durrani’s name on ECL.

    The ex-ISI chief’s petition is expected to be taken up again by the IHC next month.

  • Son of NAB’s ex-prosecutor says worked for Broadsheet-linked firm without pay

    Son of NAB’s ex-prosecutor says worked for Broadsheet-linked firm without pay

     

    Omer Farouk Adam, son of ex-prosecutor general of the National Accountability Bureau Farouk Adam Khan, says that he worked for a Broadsheet-linked firm in the 2000s as an intern without any monetary benefits.

    Recently, ex-NAB chairman Gen (r) Syed Amjad alleged that Farouk Adam Khan worked for a law firm connected to the asset recovery firm as a consultant after leaving NAB and his son Omer too was employed by David Orchard, who along with Dr Pepper, were legal advisers to Broadsheet, a report in Geo News said.

    Responding to the statement, Farouk Adam Khan told Geo that he did work with Broadsheet, but not for money. “There was nothing secret about it and the internship was without monetary benefits,” he was quoted as saying. “It was a regular limited period internship undertaken with many other law students.”

    Amjad and Farouk had been close associates once, but in 2015, both made statements against each other in a London court over the signing of the agreement with Broadsheet. Amjad accused Farouk of working for Broadsheet and getting his son hired as well, while Farouk said Amjad was “satisfied” with the contract signed in 2000.

    He said NAB didn’t let Broadsheet work properly, adding that the agreement was signed with the firm after due diligence and Amjad’s approval.

    NAB-BROADSHEET CONTRACT:

    Pakistan paid Broadsheet, an asset recovery firm registered in the Isle of Man, Rs4.65bn after the NAB broke an agreement with it three years after it was signed in 2000.

    After its formation in 1999 by then military dictator Pervez Musharraf, NAB approached Broadsheet to recover overseas assets of at least 200 Pakistanis, particularly the Sharif family. However, the deal fell through in 2003, with NAB saying that the recovery firm had stopped investigations; Broadsheet had accused NAB of hampering its probe to locate the offshore assets of Pakistanis.

    The broken accord was the start of an 18-year-long legal battle between the two parties. In 2008, NAB reached a settlement with a former Broadcast LLC official, Jerry James. The bureau paid at least $1.5million to James to settle the case even though the company was being liquidated and the liquidator was not a party to the deal.

    Though NAB claimed it had reached a settlement with Broadsheet, the firm said James had nothing to do with it at the time of the signing of the agreement. The money paid to James didn’t reach the original Broadsheet, its CEO had claimed and filed a case in a UK court for arbitration in the matter in 2012.

    The UK judge decided the matter in favour of Broadsheet, the claimant. It said Broadsheet LLC was entitled to recover damages for the wrongful repudiation of the ARA [asset recovery agreement]. The award declared that James had no authority from the claimant after March 2005 to enter into a settlement agreement with NAB. The judge said the deal was “wrongful and deliberate to financially hurt the original Broadsheet LLC, Isle of Man”.

    The court held that while negotiating with the fraudulent company, NAB representative Ahmer Bilal Soofi was aware that the original company was in liquidation, and he signed the wrongful deal knowingly.

    Finally, the court ordered NAB to pay $21.58m plus interest to Broadsheet LLC in damages over the breach of the agreement. Due to interest rates, the award amount reached $28.7 million by December 2020.

  • VIDEO: Sindh governor’s dog enjoying police protocol in Karachi?

    It seems even pets of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader and Sindh Governor Imran Ismail enjoy police protocol in Karachi.

    According to a video that went viral on social media, a dog can be seen enjoying a ride in a government SUV on the roads of the provincial capital, with its head hanging out of the window.

    A police vehicle is also seen tailing the Prado as a part of its security protocol. No one can be seen accompanying the dog in the video, but the governor says that his family members were travelling in the vehicle when the video was shot.

    The video was posted by Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leader Taimoor Talpur. Talpur said that he filmed the video after he came out of the Chief Minister House following a meeting, as per a report in Geo News.

    Subsequently, a clarification was issued by the governor on Twitter. Ismail clarified the police mobile was accompanying the vehicle to protect his family that was also travelling in it. “The police van was not there for protocol but to protect the family,” he said, adding that it is a “frivolous move” to make such videos.

    “The person [Talpur] who made the video is part of a corrupt government,” he alleged.

  • PTI’s Pakistan more corrupt than PML-N’s Pakistan for second consecutive year: Transparency International

    PTI’s Pakistan more corrupt than PML-N’s Pakistan for second consecutive year: Transparency International

    Transparency International (TI) — a Berlin-based international non-governmental organisation combating global corruption — on Thursday released a new report, according to which, the country under the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government, for the second consecutive year, has witnessed more corruption than it did in the outgoing year of the former ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N).

    According to TI’s global report on the 2020 Corruption Perception Index (CPI), while Pakistan’s ranking and CPI score in 2019 dropped from 117 to 120 and from 33 to 32, respectively, the ranking has now fallen down to 123 and CPI score to 31 in 2020.

    The report comes at a time when the Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan-led government boasts of the success of its promised accountability drive against opposition lawmakers and government officials. The same has time and again been termed as “political victimisation” by those on the radar of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).

    Before the second consecutive drop, Pakistan witnessed a slight improvement in the 2018 CPI, scoring a point higher than in 2017 but remaining unchanged in the rankings. The country scored 33 out of 100 on the index — one point better than its score of 32 in 2017 and 2016. Its ranking, however, remained unchanged at 117 out of 180 countries, in 2018.

    TI’s annual report on CPI is formulated on the basis of input from 13 international agencies. In the case of Pakistan, however, the assessment of eight agencies is taken into account. These include the World Economic Forum Executive Opinion Survey; the World Bank Country Policy and Institutional Assessment; the World Justice Project Rule of Law Index; the Bertelsmann Stiftung Transformation Index; the Economist Intelligence Unit Country Risk Service; the Global Insight Country Risk Ratings; the IMD World Competitiveness Center World Competitiveness Yearbook Executive Opinion Survey; and the Varieties of Democracy project’s findings.

    Pakistan in the last 11 years had improved its index score from 23 in 2010 to 33 in 2018. However, never in the said time period had Pakistan been assessed to have performed negatively when compared to the previous year, which has now happened twice.

  • VIDEO: Visibly annoyed info minister stops Shahbaz Gill from speaking to media after PTI meeting

    Federal Information Minister Shibli Faraz was on Wednesday caught visibly annoyed on camera when he expressed displeasure over his colleague and Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan’s special assistant, Dr Shahbaz Gill, having an informal conversation with media persons.

    As per the details, PM Imran chaired the parliamentary party meeting of the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) following which Gill was seen speaking to journalists before the information minister could hold his scheduled press conference.

    In videos of the episode doing the rounds on social media, Faraz was seen asking Gill as to what he was doing.

    “I was just giving them [journalists] economy-related points,” PM’s aide tells the government spokesperson over which the latter tells him that he was headed for the scheduled post-meeting presser.

    WATCH VIDEO:

    “If you want to talk to journalists, join me for the press conference,” the information minister can be heard as adding after saying that it was his job but Gill had been doing so for quite some time.

    “I won’t join you [for the presser],” Gill says after continuing to explain for a while that he was only updating journalists on facts and figures regarding the country’s debts.

    “Then don’t,” the information minister says and storms out, leaving Gill rather embarrassed in front of media persons.

    It may be noted that Faraz is the third information minister after Fawad Chaudhry and Firdous Ashiq Awan, who discharged her duties as the pemier’s special assistant on information in the absence of a minister.

    Gill, on the other hand, was called to centre after spending some time in Punjab as Chief Minister (CM) Usman Buzdar’s spokesperson.

  • PTI leader asks PM to bring Tareen back ahead of Senate polls

    The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) lawmaker Raja Riaz has asked the prime minister to make estranged PTI leader Jahangir Khan Tareen the chairman of the committee formed to choose candidates for the upcoming Senate elections.

    During a parliamentary party meeting on Wednesday with PM Imran Khan in the chair, the PTI lawmaker, who hails from Faisalabad, said that Tareen’s services for the PTI cannot be ignored and demanded that the senior leader be made the head of the committee.

    He also asked the PM to include Punjab Governor Chaudhry Sarwar, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Amir Kiyani, and Ijaz Chaudhry in the body formed to choose Senate candidates.

    In November last year, Tareen, who had drifted away from Imran Khan after he was named in a sugar scam, had returned to Pakistan after spending five months in London.

    Tareen, once a close confidant of PM Imran Khan, had a falling out with the prime minister and party leaders after he was named in an inquiry ordered by the PM over hike in sugar prices. The report made public by the government had named other politicians as well.

    A news report claimed that Tareen took this decision to end his self-imposed exile after Imran assured him a free trial about the ongoing issues among other things.

    Following the report against Tareen, Raja Riaz had defended him at the time as well. He had warned of huge loss to the PTI if Jahangir Tareen parted his ways with the party. He had claimed that some people were providing wrong information to PM Imran Khan about Tareen.

  • Sit back LDA? Lahore to get another land authority with retired/serving military or civil officers as DG

    Sit back LDA? Lahore to get another land authority with retired/serving military or civil officers as DG

    The Punjab government has approved the establishment of another development authority to develop its posh neighbourhoods, with Chief Minister Usman Buzdar as the chairman.

    The Lahore Central Business District (CBD) Development Authority will be set up under the Lahore Central Business District Development Authority Ordinance 2021 and the ordinance would also pave the way for the appointment of retired/serving military officers or civil servants as the director general of the authority.

    As per the drafted legislation, the authority will have the power to acquire and hold property, both movable and immovable, and to carry out development in posh areas.

    Though Lahore already has a development authority that is in charge of planning and development in the district, the new authority is said to be an autonomous body that is tasked with the commercialisation and promotion of vertical construction in the city.

    According to Geo News, the idea of setting up a Central Business District in Lahore was first proposed by the Lahore Development Authority in 2009 for the development of Jail Road, Main Boulevard, M M Alam Road, Hali Road and Gulberg.

  • Fazl not invited to Bakhtawar Bhutto-Zardari’s wedding: report

    Fazl not invited to Bakhtawar Bhutto-Zardari’s wedding: report

    Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) head Maulana Fazlur Rehman, who is also leading the anti-government opposition alliance, hasn’t been invited to the wedding ceremony of Bakhtawar Bhutto-Zardari to be held on Jan 29, reported ARY News.

    The sister of Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari will tie the knot with fiancé Mahmood Choudhry at Bilawal House in Karachi on Friday in a ceremony that would be attended by around 1,000 people.

    Though the invitation cards have been sent to the bigwigs across the country, it seems Fazl has not received the letter. According to a report, Fazl said that he was not invited by former president Asif Ali Zardari to the wedding of his daughter. “When asked as to many big names would be participating in the event, Fazlur Rehman said that he does not know about the big names but he is not invited,” the media outlet quoted him while talking to reporters.

    Bakhtawar’s mehndi ceremony will be held on January 27. The nikkah will take place on January 29 while the baarat is scheduled for January 30. All events are expected to take place at the bride’s residence in Karachi.

    PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari will be suspending his political activities for a week to participate in sister’s wedding. He was unable to attend her engagement as he was in isolation after testing positive for COVID-19.

    The spokesperson further added that close to a thousand guests have been invited to the wedding.

    Bakhtawar and Mahmood got engaged on November 27, 2020, in an intimate ceremony at the Bilawal House Karachi. Bakhtawar’s husband-to-be “Mahmood Choudhry is the son of Mohammad Younas and Begum Suraiya Choudhry who hail from the old town of Lahore.”

    “Mahmood, the last born of five siblings was born on July 28, 1988, in the city of Abu Dhabi. He completed his primary schooling in Abu Dhabi and secondary schooling in the United Kingdom. Mahmood further went on to read Law at the University of Durham.”

    “The family’s primary country of residence remains the United Arab Emirates (UAE) where Mahmood continues to run his businesses in construction, finance and tech,” added the statement.