Badr, Malik helped Sadiq flee!

The National Accountability Bureau will be presenting a report in the Supreme Court today (Wednesday) in which it is likely to tell the court that former OGRA chief Tauqir Sadiq had managed to escape arrest with the help of his close relative Jehangir Badr, Pakistan People’s Party’s leader of the House in the Senate, a private TV channel reported on Tuesday. The report says Badr helped Sadiq escape to Islamabad through the Motorway (M-2). It adds that Badr later helped Sadiq flee the country with the help of Interior Minister Rehman Malik. The NAB report says NAB Director General Operations Colonel (r) Shehzad disposed off the arrest warrants issued for Sadiq in October 2012. The startling revelations would follow extensive SC pressure on NAB for the arrest of former OGRA chief Tauqir Sadiq. Sadiq is accused of fraud amounting to Rs 82 billion with the national exchequer by misusing authority and embezzling funds by converting operating income into non-operating income in violation of an agreement signed with the Asian Development Bank and World Bank, relocating several CNG stations and making illegal appointments. The authorities had told the SC earlier this month that the accused had fled to Dubai on a fake passport, making the court order his immediate arrest. However, when the given time for the arrest lapsed, NAB said Sadiq had again fled to Nepal. On November 25, 2011, the court had declared Sadiq’s appointment as OGRA chairman illegal and had ordered the NAB to investigate corruption cases against him and submit its findings within 45 days. The court had observed that five people were involved in the illegal appointment of Sadiq, including incumbent Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf.