NAB is lying to the people of Pakistan: Broadsheet CEO

[Saiyan0321]

NAB is lying to the people of Pakistan: Broadsheet CEO​

Calls the institution ‘a conspiracy to defraud Pakistanis’

Broadsheet CEO Kaveh Mousavi has rebutted the claims made by the Pakistani government, particularly its National Accountability Bureau, following the seizure of $28.7 million from the Pakistan High Commission’s account in London.

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He was speaking to Pakistani journalist Irfan Hashmi in a video uploaded on YouTube Monday.

UK-based firm Broadsheet LLC was hired in 2000 by General Pervez Musharraf’s government to recover assets stolen by the past Pakistani governments. The contract expired in 2003 and the firm alleged it was not paid. It sued Pakistan in the London Court of International Arbitration in 2016 and won an award of $21 million in 2019.

Islamabad appealed the decision in the London High Court and the award was increased to $33 million. UK authorities recently seized $28.7 million from the Pakistan High Commission’s account and the rest remains payable.

Mousavi said NAB is lying to the people of Pakistan about how much money Broadsheet found and recovered. The anti-corruption watchdog repeatedly tried to protect various individuals from being investigated, he added.

Asked who engaged Broadsheet and what was the objective, Mousavi said his group was approached in 2000 and one of his associates negotiated with lawyers representing Musharraf’s government to recover stolen assets.

“The list initially shared with us appeared politically-inspired, focused only on Nawaz Sharif,” he said. “We refused to be part of a political witch-hunt and to Musharraf’s credit, he agreed to expand the list to include all who have stolen from Pakistan.”

After initial investigation, this list grew to 200 people and their companies, according to the Broadsheet LLC. Notable on this list were the Bhutto-Zardari families, the Sharif family and an individual who later went on to become the interior minister during the Sharif government in 2013.

“We insisted that the contract must contain a clause that the list of names could not be changed after the contract went into force,” Mousavi said. “Later events proved us correct in insisting on this clause.”

He said Musharraf appointed Lt General Muhammad Amjad as the NAB chairman. During this time, NAB was very cooperative and the investigation was going very well, according to the Broadsheet CEO.

“However, I wasn’t surprised when General Amjad was removed very quickly, because he was determined to clean up Pakistan,” he said. “I thought he was very naïve to think that.”

Mousavi said successive NAB leadership, including Lt General Khalid Maqbool and Lt Gen Munir Hafeez, presented evidence that was not acceptable to the court. “We also begun to receive open requests to exclude certain individuals from the target list,” he added.

The Broadsheet CEO said NAB sabotaged his firm’s efforts at every step.

“We had identified and frozen an account in New Jersey and asked NAB to seek release of the funds to Pakistan. You know what they did” he asked. “First, they removed the person’s name from the list of targets, then they released the funds to him and third, they appointed him home minister. Do I need to say any more?”

About the results Broadsheet delivered, Mousavi said they identified hundreds of millions of stolen dollars, possibly a billion, or even more.

“We found [Admiral Mansurul] Haq and worked with the FBI to extradite him and bring home hundreds of millions of dollars,” he said. “Contrary to what NAB is telling the people of Pakistan, [London High Court judge] Anthony Evans found that Broadsheet performed, it performed effectively and possibly, it was removed because it performed too effectively.

According to Mousavi, the judge found that NAB sabotaged Broadsheet’s efforts. “The judge said the government of Pakistan engaged in a conspiracy to defraud Broadsheet, disrupt its operations and prevent it from carrying out its duties,” he said. “So I’m not surprised that such an institution as NAB should come forward today and say that Broadsheet recovered nothing. It’s a straightforward lie.”

On Nawaz Sharif’s claims that he was exonerated in the matter of Avenfield apartments, the Broadsheet CEO said his firm did no such thing. “On the contrary, we have collected enough evidence to suggest that stolen funds were used to purchase the properties,” he said. “We didn’t pursue the matter after an accountability court in Pakistan made the same finding we did.”

Q: Did you have any contact with the Pakistani governments after 2003? Did you try to pursue the payment you were owed?

Hashmi asked the Broadsheet CEO if he made any contact with the Pakistani governments or tried to pursue the payment they were owed after 2003.

“In 2008, Musharraf visited the Oxford Union and I asked him what happened,” Mousavi replied. “He said ‘the Supreme Court had forced him to hold an election, in which all the crooks were re-elected. They came back to power and gutted NAB’.”

“We admitted the film of this conversation in court as evidence,” he said. “We gave up talking to the government when we saw that they brazenly lie.”

Mousavi accused NAB of openly asking Broadsheet not to investigate the names on the list and described the anti-corruption watchdog as a “conspiracy against the people of Pakistan”.

“Later, we found one such name [was] appointed home minister,” he said, questioning, “What would you do? Would you continue to talk to these people?”

The Broadsheet CEO said his firm was contacted by intermediaries on behalf of the Sharif family in 2012. They offered money to go away but the firm flatly refused to negotiate with crooks, he added.

Mousavi said the former PML-N government refused to honour the award after Broadsheet won the case against Pakistan in August 2016.

“They said we are going to appeal this,” he said. “It cost them $20 million to appeal the case, which they lost.”

“How many water filtration plants could this money buy in Pakistan, how many hospitals, how many schools,” he asked. “I have no doubt that these thieves were making money in commissions by awarding contracts to human rights lawyers.”

Senior Afghan politician to arrive in Pakistan today for three-day visit

Afghan Unity Party's Mohammad Karim Khalili will meet PM Imran and FM Qureshi during three-day trip to Islamabad.

www.dawn.com

 

[Kaptaan]

@Saiyan0321 What are your thoughts on this?

 

[Saiyan0321]

@Saiyan0321 What are your thoughts on this?

That it is hardly surprising at all, infact it is basically well known.

The three major takeaways are the following.

1. That the corruption drive was politically motivated and we have seen that whenever anybody comes forward with the slogan of cleaning up this country, it is often implemented through political motivations or not implemented at all properly and this has been like that since 1947. All of them from Ayub to bhutto to zia to the Nawaz to benazir to MUSHARRAF and Imran, all of them cannot clean up this country. These drives are often flavor of the month. Bhutto made great promises to bring prosperity to the working class and bringing the elite 1 percent under check many of them judges, industrialists and generals and his own politicians and he could barely do any of that. His half baked land reforms, passed due to waning popularity did nothing. He led no movement against military corruption nor did he punish the electables whose votes he needed. Tomorrow if Nawaz would come to power then he would lead a specific witch-hunt against generals or PTI abut nobody and I mean nobody has the power or guts to start a complete anti-corruption drive.

2. Second major takeaways is how NAB is less anti corruption and more a vengeful institution and we see how NAB acts in accordance to the witch hunt of the month. Removing names from the list? Give me a break. It is nothing more than a thug institution and due to the fact that it's doctrine is based assumption of guilt, which makes the prosecutors to build some of the weakest cases I have ever seen due to their lazy attitude. When the presumption is based on innocence, the prosecution works overtime to build a case and struggles with evidence and often can be found yelling at investigators for not doing their job right but when the assumption is guilt, the prosecutors are lazy as hell which is also why you see many appeals, overturning the conviction since NAB is based on assumption of guilt whereas highcourt and supreme court is based on assumption of innocence. At this point, it is so politically circled that NAB doesn't even touch a single person in higher bureaucracy. Many lower bureaucrats and government employees get targeted and are forced to pay bribes however do you seriously believe that a DIG, ASP, DCO, commissioner, TMO, all of them are not corrupt and what about the land records guys like LDA GDA or patwaris. Let's not even start on the military. That is another chapter. The point is that an institution created for witch-hunt will witch-hunt the flavor of the month and bow to the king in power.

3. The third takeaway is very simple that nothing and I mean nothing is a surprise for us which means that it is a well known fact that he spoke yet the system is so perfectly placed that nobody can do anything to break it down because it's not just NAB. NAB is just one institution. Corruption is like a massive cloud that has engulfed the country and we see this everywhere. Some of the worst defaulters of electric bills are the state institutions which range from courts to military barracks to bureaucratic offices. Secretariat Lahore hasn't paid it's bill for God knows how long. If you go to a village then the most transmission line power is going to the nearby chaudhary's house and he openly says that who pays bills? Are these people not corrupt? This is also corruption. Then we come to landlords who have land of acres after acres but on the tax documents they have it written 5 Marla to pay 400 rupee of tax because the officer that is investigating them is happily taking bribes. The police pay has increased to staggering heights that a grade 13 earns about 40k and yet their corruption is never ending. They fleece complainant who has already suffered. Ghunday and Badmash is the term we use for them and is this not corruption as well? Of course it is and so after we have killed each and every single politician, general, judge and bureaucrat elite, will it end corruption? No it will not. Because corruption is inside us. Change is not external but internal. Prophets preached to people not to kings. A constable whining that media looks at their 3000 father than the 300,000 of the officer rather than feeling shame at why there was a 3000 in the first place. A fine islamic country where bribe also has nisaab.

So my friend, I would say that I am simply not surprised at all.

 

[Kaptaan]

Many thanks for that detailed response. Yes, I would agree with you and let's face it most of this is well known. From what I saw with my own eyes and heard with my own ears was exactly what you said. Most of the people in my village were not paying their electricity bills. Many of those employed by the government were lying at home on beds with AC's humming away but were collecting their pay at end of month. In fact my 'servant' who I paid Rs20,000 before I left for his services was actually employee of the electricty department as peon or something but never went to work. This gave me idea of much corruption had taken hold in Pakistan.

However I don't like to be prophet of doom all the time. We should try to suggest or think of solutions or even step forward. The only religion we should have in public relm and policy is improving the economic, social and health of people. Faith should be left to the private person.

Would you agree though that PMIK is personally honest and person of financial propriety? And what can be done to move forward to address the issues raised by you. Or and this one is extreme that does cross my mind sometimes. That Pakistan has to be disolved like the British Raj was in 1947 into provincial states that are more manageable?

States are not holy creatures, They are just a compact between the citizen and state to offer security, economic prosperity. And if they fail to deliver then even the very basis of the state must be looked at. You see that in Europe. Scotland often thinks about going it's way despite UK being one of the worlds most succesful states with a global image second to non.

@Saiyan0321

 

[Saiyan0321]

Many thanks for that detailed response. Yes, I would agree with you and let's face it most of this is well known. From what I saw with my own eyes and heard with my own ears was exactly what you said. Most of the people in my village were not paying their electricity bills. Many of those employed by the government were lying at home on beds with AC's humming away but were collecting their pay at end of month. In fact my 'servant' who I paid Rs20,000 before I left for his services was actually employee of the electricty department as peon or something but never went to work. This gave me idea of much corruption had taken hold in Pakistan

Yep and that's the tip of the iceberg. The worst part is that people have used whataboutism to religious excuses to any excuse to provide themselves with the satisfaction that what they are doing is perfectly right. Let me tell you about a personal incident. My neighbor Rana moved into a house right next to ours. Now this plot used to belong to us. One day he laughingly and openly tells us that when he moved in and built the house, he connected the gas pipeline that was available there and thinking that the gas was actually from our meter, he used it full like full till at the end of the month, he receives the huge bill for gas and realized that the pipeline had a separate meter. He laughed alot at it but it surprised me and my mother as to how this guy is openly saying that he went nuts thinking he was getting someone else's gas connection. Now this guy is literally the walking and talking embodiment of wearing religion on his sleeves. He is part of milad committees, is part of the nearby mosque construction, wears various religious brooches and basically talks full islamic as if he is the perfect example of what a muslim should be but the above was just one of the many many deeds he has committed.


This ability to justify our actions is a major reason why society is actually falling down and when I say society, I mean society entirely. From rich to poor. The elite class is absolute rubbish as well.

However I don't like to be prophet of doom all the time. We should try to suggest or think of solutions or even step forward. The only religion we should have in public relm and policy is improving the economic, social and health of people. Faith should be left to the private person.

Absolutely. I also believe in figuring out some form of solution and try to bring it forward even if it is just a pamphlet to be thrown in gates. Anything is good and paves the way even if that comes hundreds of years after our Demise. John locke wrote the two treatise of government in 1690 in answer to fischer's king doctrine. His constitutional theories were employed after his demise and I don't think he ever ever would have imagined that his theories would become one of the most widely used constitutional ground for constitutionalism and would spark the argument between foundationalism and monism. The point is that if you are a thinker or have any ideas then you must give it written form and present it for the world to read. Spread it if you can but present it. If you don't, then you were derelict in your duty.
Kaptaan you are an indus nationalists that believes that we should focus on geographical existence rather than religious union and link indus civilization with pakistan. This is your theory that you support. You should write a book on it and present it to the world. Who knows maybe 500 years later, this idea will be conductive and when people search on it, they can use the ideas you presented as reference. Forums are not the perfect medium. They are great for reaching out but not for preservation of idea. Work on it since you have a duty to your ideal to do that.

Would you agree though that PMIK is personally honest and person of financial propriety? And what can be done to move forward to address the issues raised by you. Or and this one is extreme that does cross my mind sometimes. That Pakistan has to be disolved like the British Raj was in 1947 into provincial states that are more manageable?

Yeah I would. People in his surrounding do as well. Inability to stop others doesn't mean you are partaking yourself. I am pretty sure he, to his personal extent, is honest and according to Mian Khalid, Raja Basharat, pervez elahi, openly displays disgust at corruption and VIP culture and sincerely believe in riyasaat e Medina which may not be as good as it sounds since people have a pretty imaginary view on riyasaat e Medina. Don't think he is an actor. Burki, niazis as some were called totay pathan, (we have family links with them) are not actors. None of us are and pretty open so yeah don't think what he says is rubbish. He sincerely believes it. I really need to get that book. Pathans of jalandhar and pathans of hoshiarpur...

Solutions are difficult here since we can bring forth solutions when systems are broken. The problem is that the system is twisted but perfectly placed and well oiled. Internal change and awareness perhaps since one thing is certain that change will always come. Nothing stays forever. No state, no form of government, no mindset. All things change.

Is religion the problem? Then how can we remove the unremovable? Remove the constitution? Who can do that and what drastic impacts will have on such a removal? Grand constitutional amendment is a process that we can undertake but pakistani courts have often took the foundationalist view point which means that some sections of the constitution are sacred and one of them is religion so extracting religion from constitution is not easy and is religion the sole problem? Would removing it remove corruption? What if the problem is the people and it doesn't matter if the constitution has islamic or not, it's the people who are the problem? After all we have the Irish constitution as well.

Frankly I am not old enough nor experienced enough to give a solution with a 100 percent certainty and I can't stress this enough however I do believe that eventually constitutional evolution does make a mark. Pakistan went from extreme centralization to decentralization and provincial rights. It went from the most colonial of policies in Azad kashmir to the 13th amendment of the AJK constitution which granted vast freedoms and we are talking about GB provincial status. The removal of FCR is another case for constitutional evolution of the country. So eventually constantly fighting for rights and raising ideas and voices will eventually bring change within. Today we scream but tomorrow it becomes mainstream. So for now my solution is to continue fighting and bring forth solutions after solution and eventually it may stick.

Dissolution of pakistan. This is an interesting topic. Would dissolution of pakistan help the pakistani people get more rights than they have already? For this we must ask the question whether formation of pakistan brought any negative or positive changes to the state of the people?

If pakistan dissolves then two things must happen. The removal of the army which means that a massive incident or factor happened that removed pakistan army from the equation like a foreign occupation or extreme civil war and the breaking of the system in place which keeps every power holder happy in pakistan, which even a civil war may not break.

So let's say, ignoring these two massive factors, which will surely make our analysis flawed but what the hell, let's say that we have five new states. We have the northern union and the four provinces? So how will they be administered? Well they will draw their legal and constitutional history from pakistan just as pakistan draws it's from the british empire. So chances are that punjab and Sindh and kpk will continue the laws which exploit the people. The regions of Sindh and baluchistan will see massive conflict since baluchistan will be now entirely under the sardars and Sindh under waderas and both will try to target their respective minority aka pashtuns of baluchistan and muhajir of Sindh so expect massive civil war which will break down the system causing even more exploitation to come to terms.

Frankly in every scenario I run, the dismemberment of pakistan doesn't help and infact makes things worse as most of these states will become islamic state since religion, as justice munir highlighted , is a massive passion of the people. So the islamic republic of punjab and pashtunistan will be the same as they are. No changes and baluchistan may go the same route to keep the tribal confidenrancy in check.

As for the northern union. That thing won't last three days before china invades and captures it so they have internment camps to look forward to.

I see a return to the 1700s rather than any constitutional or legal growth in the dismemberment of pakistan. Also pashtunistan joining afghanistan is a joke. The constitutional and legal and economic history makes pashtunistan a dominant power in khorasan. They will be at odds with afghanistan or will dominate it similar to how pakistan does it with afghanistan. So no changes if pakistan breaks.

This is merely a summary, a flawed taste since we haven't overlooked the scenarios where dismemberment happened and how it will impact the new states but safe to say dismemberment won't help. Bangladesh is a completely different case. It's legislative and constitutional and political history is extremely different and it inherited a political history that was far more advanced and different than most regions that made pakistan. One only needs to ask as to why the communist party was flourishing there but not in pakistan.

States are not holy creatures, They are just a compact between the citizen and state to offer security, economic prosperity. And if they fail to deliver then even the very basis of the state must be looked at. You see that in Europe. Scotland often thinks about going it's way despite UK being one of the worlds most succesful states with a global image second to non.

No argument there but the newly formed state being just as oppressive if not more is no solution as well. Change is the truth and nothing remains forever, even in this international world that is trying to keep the status quo. Eventually pakistan will evolve to a new states. The border may grow or shrink but the republic will change. I would say with 18th amendment, we are already a second republic.

Yes states have only one job and that is to provide the welfare and protection for the people. I hate the saying of JFK, which was basically saving the state from any questions, where he says that we should not ask what the stage will do for us rather than ask what we can do for the state. A state that can't provide the basics is not worth it and this is natural and for the patriots fearing an end of pakistan, the fall of a state does not mean that the country has been wiped out but it could also mean that the state structure in place is changed or needs to be changed. This could be done through revolutionary constitutionalism or internal changes. The borders of iran remained the same but the 1979 revolution changed the state entirely. Iraq is similar in example and if the people of arabia rise and remove the monarchy then the stage will change but the country and it's borders will remain. Afghanistan is also an example of constant state changes.

 

[Kaptaan]

Really enjoyed reading your post. Some very interesting points. Just to clarify I am not taking a particular position like dissolution of the Pakistan federation. In discussions and free thought we must 'brainstorm' requires throwing up everything in the air and slicing/dicing it to see what is left after scrutiny. We should always begin with a neutal proposition that makes no assumptions or takes no conclusion.

For instance when Indian's talk of Pakistan and nowdays unfortunately most of the world including even the Turks they begin with the proposition that Pakistan is failed contrasted with the success that is India which is load of cobblers. India is in the same shitbucket as Pakistan just that Bollywood, Indian media and the brand 'India' has been leveraged to produce a impression that is mostly fiction.

Or that Islam makes the cement that binds Pakistan. Or that Pakistan was created from India in 1947. All these are flawed but now are accepted as fact even by most Pakistani's. More later. I have to go and help dig the cars from the snowstorm we have outside. Been cut off from the world for last 24 hours because of the blizzard we got. Our house is on the slightly isolated location with fabulous views of the English countryside but when it snows we often get cut off. So on with the wellies and start shovelling snow as it has began to thaw ...

 

[Saiyan0321]

Really enjoyed reading your post. Some very interesting points. Just to clarify I am not taking a particular position like dissolution of the Pakistan federation. In discussions and free thought we must 'brainstorm' requires throwing up everything in the air and slicing/dicing it to see what is left after scrutiny. We should always begin with a neutal proposition that makes no assumptions or takes no conclusion.

No problem. This is simple discussion and research so any and all ideas are welcome and we cannot ignore ideas simply because they are radical since without discussing or understanding ideas and concepts, we cannot find the flaws or the positives within them. In the book the constitutional history of pakistan, Hamid khan points to how the 6 points were immediately demonized in west pakistan and no scholarship nor discussion was done on them amounting to growing misunderstanding which only aggravated the situation and in his research, he points to how the 6 points were not something that were original to awami league but were constitutional concepts that were around in east pakistan during the constitutional making process of pakistan and we're brought forth by various political parties. This is validated by the scholarship on the political history of east pakistan. The point is that all topics and ideas and concepts must be discussed or brought forth in a fine manner so that their faults or strengths can be determined.
If I say that I want a new constitutional setup then I am frankly going in contrast to article 6 but without discussing it, I cannot bring forth any new understanding on it. If I say I want an absolute presidential system then I am going in contrast to the objective resolution, the preamble and the landmark judgment of the SC in mehmood achakzai vs federation of pakistan.

But as you said all ideas must be brought to the table and scrutinized to see what is left. In my book I am fine with it if discussion remains scholarly.

More later. I have to go and help dig the cars from the snowstorm we have outside. Been cut off from the world for last 24 hours because of the blizzard we got. Our house is on the slightly isolated location with fabulous views of the English countryside but when it snows we often get cut off. So on with the wellies and start shovelling snow as it has began to thaw

Looking forward to it. Take care. Hope the snow let's up and the isolation ends.