A high court in the United Kingdom (UK) has ordered deducting Rs. 4.5billion from the accounts of the Pakistan High Commission in London. Thedecision was given over the non-payment of a penalty by the NationalAccountability Bureau (NAB) to the foreign asset recovery firm, BroadsheetLLC.
A foreign office source has confirmed that the London High Court haddirected debiting millions of dollars from Pakistan High Commission’saccounts by December 30. However, no deduction has been made so far, thesource confirmed.——————————
In this regard, the United Bank Limited UK had written a letter to thePakistan High Commission on December 29, seeking written paymentinstructions with debit account details to facilitate the payment.
The bank made it clear that in case of non-compliance, the bank will haveno choice but to unilaterally deduct the required amount from the highcommission’s accounts as per the court order.
The source confirmed that around NAB’s Rs. 4.5 billion ($26.15 millionapprox.) is lying in the UBL, London account, which is operated in the nameof Pakistan High Commission in the UK.
Meanwhile, the high commission has conveyed to UBL Chief Executive Officer(CEO), Brain Firth, that any attempt to proceed with unilaterally debitingtheir accounts will be a clear violation of the international law and abreach of trust that would impact the mutual relationship in the future.——————————
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The source also confirmed that the deadline given by the court has passedbut no deduction has been made so far. It added that due to the NAB’sslackness, the country faced the additional loss of millions of dollars.Case History
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The NAB hired the Isle of Man, the Broadsheet LLC during former militarydictator, General Pervaiz Musharraf’s era to trace hidden assets of 200Pakistanis in foreign countries. The agreement was terminated in 2003. Thefirm’s claim against Pakistan was worth at least $600 million.
Established by a Colorado businessman, Jerry James, Broadsheet hit a roughpatch in 2005 and entered into liquidation proceedings in the Isle of Man.However, it survived the recession and revived again.——————————
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Meanwhile, James established another company with the same name in Coloradoand negotiated an agreement with NAB in 2008 that purported to settle thedispute for $5 million.
The anti-graft watchdog paid the amount, only to realize that the deal hadno legal backing as James while signing a deal was not part of the originalcompany. He committed suicide in 2011.
In August 2016, the International Tribunal Judge, Sir Anthony Evans, upheldBroadsheet’s arguments that the 2008 settlement was not binding on it, asJames had no authority to act on the company’s behalf at that time.
