LONDON – Pakistan has paid more than $28.706 million (Rs4.59 billion) to aBritish assets recovery company after the London High Court found theNational Accountability Bureau (NAB) guilty of breaching a contract.

The hefty amount was transferred from the Pakistan High Commission (PHC) onbehalf of NAB to Broadsheet LLC after a long litigation. The firm was hiredaround 17 years ago to detect alleged foreign assets of dozens ofPakistanis which it failed to trace any, Geo News reported.

On December 17, the London High Court’s Financial Division had directedPakistan to ensure payment of the amount to the NAB’s former clientBroadsheet by 30th.

The Pakistani anti-graft buster had hired Broadsheet during formerpresident Pervez Musharraf’s government in 2003 to trace assets in the UKand USA of more than 200 Pakistanis Benazir Bhutto, Asif Ali Zardari andNawaz Sharif.

The British firm had moved the court against NAB after the anti-graftwatchdog broke its contract in violation of the terms and conditions.

The media outlet citing sources said that Pakistan has left no optionexcept complying with the orders as it has exhausted all legal options.Lawyer representing Pakistan had also advised against challenging theverdict.