ISLAMABAD: The Justice (r) Azmat Saeed Sheikh-led commission of inquiry has completed its probe into the Broadsheet LLC case and it transpired on Monday that the record of $1.5 million paid “inadvertently” in 2008 was missing.
According to sources, a 100-page inquiry report has been prepared and the commission has recommended to de-seal Swiss cases record of the former president Asif Ali Zardari.
In January, during a debate on the issue, Adviser to the PM on Accountability Shahzad Akbar had told the Senate that the PPP government in 2008 made a payment of $1.5 million to a “wrong firm”.
The commission formed to probe the payments to the UK-based firm completed the investigation and submitted its report to the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO).
The report and the relevant record comprise 500 pages, revealing who made the agreement with the firm and under what circumstances. Terming the payment to the “wrong firm” suspicious, the commission termed it an act of deceit with the state.
Broadsheet company was wrongly paid Rs1.5 million, the report said, adding that wrong payment is counted as fraud with the state of Pakistan. Payment alone cannot be termed as negligence, the Broadsheet commission report said.
It added that files were stolen from the ministries of finance and law and the attorney-general’s office. Moreover, the documentation in the Pakistan High Commission in London pertaining to the case was also found to be missing.
The authority found all details of the case through the documents submitted by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).
The commission recorded the statements of 24 witnesses, completing the investigation in a span of six weeks. Sources said that statements and documents of several people have been attached to the 100-page report separately.
The commission in its report has unearthed the Swiss cases record kept in the record room of the anti-graft body. The inquiry commission has proposed the de-sealing the record of the cases. The record should be reviewed as to what has to be done with it, the Broadsheet committee has recommended.
Earlier in the day, the inquiry report of the Broadsheet scandal was received in the Prime Minister’s House, reported TLTP. It further said that the inquiry report was received by Joint Secretary Zahid Maqsood.
The federal government had appointed Justice (r) Azmat Saeed Shaikh to head the inquiry committee after the revelations made by the Broadsheet LLC chief Kaveh Mousavi. The commission was set up on January 29 this year to probe the Broadsheet case.
It had formally launched its investigation on February 9, 2021, while the opposition parties had refused to accept the commission headed by Justice (r) Saeed.
The UK-based asset recovery firm Broadsheet LLC had been hired in 2000 by General Pervez Musharraf’s government to help recover assets stashed by past Pakistani rulers abroad.
