Govt makes Broadsheet judgment public.

ISLAMABAD -- The government upholding the tradition of sharing the findings of inquiry reports,

on Monday made the arbitration judgment by Sir Anthony Evans in the Broadsheet LLC case public.

Though the judgement involved liability and quantum awards , however, the government sought approval from the Broadsheet lawyers in writing for the purpose

Advisor to the Prime Minister on Interior and Accountability Barrister Mirza Shahzad Akbar said while talking to the media.

He said accountability sans transparency was not possible. The nation had to pay the price of NROs (National Reconciliation Ordinance) given by the past regimes to the corrupt and it was imperative to disclose the wrongdoers.

The national exchequer had to suffer a loss of $29 million on account of payment to Broadsheet for the assets of the corrupt detected by it, but not recovered due to the deals reached by the wrongdoers with the then rulers, he added.

Shahzad Akbar said Pakistan was compelled to pay 20 percent of the detected amount stashed by the looters abroad to the Broadsheet without recovery of even a single penny. He said it was in the year 2000, when the then government gave an NRO to Nawaz Sharif and other corrupt elements and as a result it unilaterally abrogated the agreement with Broadsheet in 2003 stopping it from detecting the assets.

The Broadsheet took the case to a London court for arbitration, which imposed $ 21 million penalty on Pakistan for the assets of the corrupt detected out by it, he added.

The advisor said out of $21 million, the payment of $1.5 million pertained to the Avenfield Apartments purchased by the Sharif family from the looted money while the rest $19 million was related to the assets amassed by other corrupt people abroad.

Pakistan was at a total loss as it had to pay the 20 percent of the total worth of the detected looted national wealth as per agreement to the Broadsheet, he added.

Shahzad Akbar said accroding to the Broadsheet report, Shehbaz Sharif as Punjab chief minister had received commission / kickbacks of $160 million from the highway projects and $7.3 million from other deals.

The...

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