By Ali Imran
ISLAMABAD: The federal cabinet lauded on Tuesday Chairperson of the Broadsheet Commission Justice (retired) Sheikh Azmat Saeed’s decision to decline a salary and perks offered to him by the government for heading the panel tasked to investigate the Broadhseet saga.
The cabinet that met with Prime Minister Imran Khan in the chair took up a 16-point agenda. The meeting decided to uphold Justice Azmat’s decision regarding the salary and perks.
The cabinet approved a donation to the Saarc Covid Emergency Fund. It also approved the State Bank of Pakistan’s amendment bill and endorsed the government’s decision to issue new licences to Overseas Employment Promoters (OEPs).
Besides, the prime minister was briefed on the Islamabad Metro Bus project as well. The cabinet put on hold the appointment of the member finance of Nepra’s appellate tribunal.
It approved the draft of the Pakistan Institute of Education Bill 2021 and gave a go-ahead for the appointment of Azaz Ahmed as managing director of the National Transmission Dispatch Company (NTDC).
The meeting endorsed the decisions of the Economic Coordination Committee and Energy Committee.
Earlier on January 30, the federal government had notified the appointment of Justice (retd) Azmat Saeed Shaikh as the head of an inquiry commission to investigate into Broadsheet scandal.
A notification was issued by the Cabinet Secretariat regarding the appointment of Justice Retd Azmat Saeed Shaikh as the head of the inquiry commission on Broadsheet revelations. It stated that Shaikh’s appointment was made under Section 3 of the Pakistan Commissions of Inquiry Act 2017, whereas, the terms of reference (ToRs) was also mentioned in the notification.
According to the notification, the ‘one man’ commission has been given powers to constitute special teams comprising officers and experts of executive authorities. The commission was tasked to complete the probe within six weeks and send the report to the prime minister. It is pertinent to mention here that the inquiry commission will not only probe into Broadsheet findings but also investigate the involvement of some holders of high public offices in mega corruption cases which caused irreparable economic damage to the national exchequer.
The ToRs stated that the inquiry commission will ‘examine the process of selection and appointment of Trouvons LLC, Broadsheet LLC, and International Asset Recovery Limited (‘IAR’) and executive of Agreements in the year of 2000.
It will also scrutinise the circumstances, reasons and effect of cancellation of Agreements with Broadsheet LLC and IAR in 2003 besides identifying the reasons and effect of settlement and payments made on behalf of Pakistan to both firms in 2008, and whether the payments made were justified.
The commission was also tasked to identify the persons or officials responsible for making wrong payment of USD 1.5 million to the wrong person in 2008 which was not entitled to receive such payment.
Moreover, the commission is given directions ‘to identify as to whether the arbitration proceedings before the London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA) and subsequent appeal before the High Court of Justice in London regarding Broadsheet LLC were conducted diligently and efficiently.’
The latest decision was made by the federal government to launch a thorough probe after Broadsheet revelations in order to trace and track unlawfully laundered national wealth and repatriation of the looted money besides carrying out result-oriented accountability in accordance with the law.
