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Archive for category CRY THE BELOVED COUNTRY

WHO HELPED IN PAYMENT OF $32 MILLION TO BROADSHEET? by Arshad Sharif,The Reporter’s Diary

WHO HELPED IN PAYMENT OF $32 MILLION TO BROADSHEET?

AN INSIDER’S CONMAN JOB!

By

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ARSHAD SHARIF

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 January 15, 2021

The Reporter’s Diary

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Islamabad, January 15:  Successive governments and National Accountability Bureau (NAB) made questionable payments of atleast US $32 Million to different companies in Broadsheet scam from 2008 till now without challenging the re-instatement of companies which were dissolved in 2007. 

Government of Pakistan (GoP) also paid millions of dollars as fees to the lawyers in addition to the US$32 Million questionable payments to Broadsheet which had links to a few important people in Pakistani power corridors. How many million dollars have been paid to lawyers internationally and locally by GoP and NAB remains a well-guarded secret in the scam.

“I had been requesting the relevant people to challenge the re-instatement order of Broadsheet in Isle of Man but no one was interested,” said a well-placed source, adding, “unless the money is distributed, how will people get their share.”

Disbursement of atleast US $32 Million include payment of US $1.5 Million to Broadsheet, $2.2 to International Asset Recovery (IAR) and US$ 28 Million to reinstated Broadsheet.

“In addition to US$1,500,000 paid to or to order of Mr. James under the Settlement Agreement, NAB paid US$2,250,000 in settlement of the claims by IAR, also in about 2008,” reads an order of settlement in the case.

The first tranche of questionable payments were made when Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) was in power, Navid Ahsan was Chairman NAB and Sardar Latif Khosa was Attorney General of Pakistan.

Sardar Latif Khosa later represented Broadsheet LLC in Supreme Court of Pakistan in 2018 to seek access to Volume 10 of Joint Investigation Team (JIT) report to be used to assess the quantum of damages sought in the international arbitration.

Who actually owns Broadsheet LLC, an offshore company, is a question which has baffled Pakistani officialdom. The multi-million dollar question finds mention in a communication sent by Broadsheet’s lawyers, Crowell & Moring LLP, to Pakistani authorities in March 2019 in the following words”

Zafar Ali, QC

“Mr. Ali informed Mr. Moussavi that people in Pakistan wanted to “know who he is” after dealing with him for years, and whether Broadsheet was being funded by Zardari and the Bhutto Family. Mr. Moussavi told Mr. Ali that was nonsense, that he had no connection whatsoever with Zardari, and never would, and that in his view Mr.Ali was being pushed aside by others in Pakistan eager to pursue the Sharif funds in Singapore for themselves.”

Imran Khan, Prime Minister of Pakistan

Prime Minister Imran Khan has recently ordered an investigation to find how the Broadsheet case was mishandled by previous governments resulting in penalty of millions of dollars against Pakistan.

It is surprising that settlement was made with Broadsheet without due diligence by GoP and NAB in 2008 despite the fact that the company was dissolved in April 2007. The fact finds mention in the settlement order in following words:

“In April 2007, when Broadsheet (IoM) was formally dissolved, negotiations were in progress between NAB, represented by their lawyer, Mr. Soofi, and Mr. James’s former associates representing another company, IAR, which had made an agreement similar to the ARA (but relating to other parts of the World) in 2000 at about the same time as he entered into the ARA on behalf of Broadsheet. 

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In addition, Mr. James began to negotiate a Settlement Agreement with NAB represented by Mr. Soofi representing that he, Mr. James, was authorised to represent Broadsheet, notwithstanding (and without disclosing) that the company was in liquidation and was recently formally dissolved.

His purpose in doing this can readily be inferred from the facts that at about this time he formed a new Colorado company, also called Broadsheet, which he represented was a successor to Broadsheet IoM. When the Settlement Agreement was signed on 20 May 2008 it provided that NAB would make payments totaling US$1,500,000, in settlement of claims made under the ARA, not to Broadsheet IoM or its Liquidator but to Broadsheet Colorado which Mr. James controlled and in effect to him personally. When these facts became known to Mr. Moussavi, he took steps to have the dissolution of Broadsheet set aside. A new Liquidator was appointed who has authorised these arbitration proceedings against NAB (Notice of Arbitration was given on 23 October 2009). 

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Naveed Ahsan, Former Chairman NABThe Settlement Agreement was authorised for NAB by an executive decision in which Mr. Soofi was not involved. There is no evidence as to who the decision makers were. The Governor of NAB at that time was Mr. Ahsan.”

The settlement order gives details about dissolution of Broadsheet, raising fundamental question why re-instatement was not challenged in Isle of Man either by GoP or NAB.

“When the ARA terminated in Oct./Dec.2003, Broadsheet was a trading company registered in the Isle of Man. Mr. James was its executive chairman and controlling shareholder. Mr. Tisdale was involved in its affairs by virtue of being Mr. James’s legal adviser, and Mr. Tariq Fawad Malik effectively was its local representative in Pakistan. On 19 May 2003, the company’s former legal adviser in Jersey obtained a default judgment for outstanding fees in the sum of about £29,000 (“the Sinel judgement”). On 1 April 2004 the Sinel judgment was registered against Broadsheet in the Isle of Man. Winding-up proceedings against the Company based on non-payment of the judgment debt were commenced in the Isle of Man in February 2005 and a Winding-up Order was made on 2-7 March 2005. On 2 April 2007 the company was formally dissolved. Meanwhile, Mr. James remained active in business and/or financial affairs in the USA. On 4 January 2005 he purported to assign to a Colorado company, Steeplechase Financial Services LLC, “all his right, title and interest in … connection with [the ARA]” signing the Assignment as chairman of Broadsheet and ‘Manager’ of Broadsheet. He did not notify NAB of the Assignment nor did he communicate with the Liquidator who was appointed in the Isle of Man shortly afterwards, in February/March 2005.”

Interestingly enough, when the questionable payments were made a year later to a company dissolved in 2007, the damage claims were again accepted in 2009. 

Second payment of atleast US $28 million was facilitated in December 2020 when Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaaf led by Prime Minister Imran Khan was in office.

A senior government official with knowledge of the case said a number of questions need to be answered as to who facilitated payments to Broadsheet once again in December 2020 when clear instructions were given by Attorney General office to keep “bare minimum” cash in accounts of Pakistani missions abroad.

Public Accounts Committee and Foreign Affairs Committee of National Assembly of Pakistan have ordered probe in the broadsheet scam.

Answers to a few of the following questions can expose a few characters who facilitated payment of atleast US $28 million to Broadsheet through Pakistan High Commission bank account in London:

 1. Why such a big amount was lying in Pakistan High Commission’s account when arbitration was ongoing and instructions were passed to keep bare minimum cash in bank accounts for official use?

2. When the amount of US $28 million was transferred to High Commission’s account and for what purpose? Who authorized transfer of funds to account of High Commission?

3. What had been the average Monthly balance in High Commission’s account during last 36 months?

4. How Broadsheet came to know about huge balance in High Commission’s account and specific account number to ensure implementation of damages claim?

5. Why diplomatic immunity was not invoked and if invoked at what stage and when?

6. Does it prima facie not seem an arranged and corroborative move to facilitate Broadsheet to recover the money?

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Disastrous Decade of Democracy & the Sorry State of Pakistan By Simon Templar

Submission to Pakistan Think Tank
This is how Pakistan is ruled.
Best ever written by a foreign journalist…  dare a Pakistani writes in this manner the real shameful facts of the nation …  Eye opener 

 

Disastrous Decade of Democracy & the Sorry State of Pakistan

By Simon Templar

Thug life is a term used by gangsters to glorify their lawbreaking, heady crime sprees.
 
Nothing describes the misrule of two successive, so-called democratically elected governments in the unstable, underdeveloped 200 million strong south Asian state of Pakistan.
 
How thieves, plunderers and freebooters came to rule this nuclear-armed state is a sad tale in itself.
 
Ruled by military General Parvez Musharaf who took over in a military coup in 1999, the country became a close US ally after 9/11 and witnessed an era of growth and stability under military rule.
 
However, when Musharaf reached his limits of flexibility, it was decided by the US and British to force him to bring back the two tainted, condemned political leaders in exile and to wash away all their sins under a dubious order in the name of national reconciliation.
 
As in the Bond movie, Quantum of Solace, there was also a hungry, eager, more flexible General waiting in the Wings to replace him,  and Deputy Chief Kayani used Military intelligence and a judges restoration movement to cripple the erstwhile strongman, now out of favour with the US.
 
A final thumbs down from the US Ambassador compelled Musharaf to resign and after the mysterious, unsolved murder of Benazir Bhutto, her thuggish husband, the upstart, criminal uneducated, corrupt and much reviled Asif Zardari came to power.
 
The deal with the West was that we bring you back, wash away your past sins and you squeeze the Army. 
 
The game began and new Chief Kiyani turned a blind eye, as he had brought the devil to sup at the table and was also busy improving his impoverished families financial condition.
 
So well did this teamwork that General Kiyani got an unprecedented 3-year second term, Zardari became a billionaire, Kayani from rags to millionaire and the country went to the dogs.
 
The US with its two boys in place, in charge of the Presidency and military, violated Pakistani sovereignty and physical boundaries at will, using drones, choppers, covert assassin’s and whatever they chose.
 
As per the unholy charter of kleptocracy, Sharif kept silent during Zardari’s plunder and he returned the favour after Sharif took over in 2013
 
Simple math, over invoice $ 50 billion of Chinese funded projects-whether needed or not- by ten percent, sign sovereign guarantees, leave future generations to pay off horrifying debts and pocket 5% off the top!
 
Walk away with a cool $ 2.5 billion dollars.Astonishingly simple as it is audacious.
 
 Where Zardari was a street thug, looting millions, for ing neighbours to sell their properties on the cheap, the plunderers from Punjab, whose father made pots and cooking utensils with his bare hands are now certified dollar billionaires thanks to massive bank defaults, and international cuts commissions and kickbacks.
 
Wow! Wonderful, just one mistake…Sharif egged on by vicious anti-military Advisers like Junior Minister for Foreign Affairs Sayed Tarik Fatemi, kept on targeting the by now restive and powerful Pakistan military.
 
The leakage of information pertaining to thousands of offshore companies incorporated in Panama signalled the end for the strangely absent Sharif regime.
 
 Perhaps the most corrupt and worse administered government in the history of Pakistan..certainly the most hypocritical.
 
Destroying the civil service structure, promoting nepotism, turning state servants especially in Punjab into glorified pimps and facilitators.
 
One poor married lady was famously peddled by her husband out to Sharif, then his younger brother and in turn was rewarded with top administrative positions for his immoral shamelessness.
 
Functioning without statutory, mandated positions such as State Ombudsman, National Tax Collector, Head of the Audit Service and even without the Governor of the State Bank.
 
Burgeoning debt, increasingly hostile borders, declining exports, a dysfunctional government, falling stock market and collapsing currency could not shake Sharif out of his stupor.
 
On the ropes, with his family corruption the main story in every paper,  every channel and on social media, he chose to plod on shamelessly, trying one corrupt lawyer after another in a futile attempt to cover his tracks.
 
Described as a Sicilian Mafiosi by the worthy judges of the top constitutional court, Sharif scraped the bottom of the barrel, hiring the immoral Raja Salman Akram, known to have defended Zardari’s drug dealing Prime Minister, all to no avail.
 
Functioning without a Foreign minister for four years, and appointing idiots as top envoys, the joke is on Sharif as he is now left with no friends to bail him out as before.
 
His Saudi patrons distanced themselves from their pet poodle after Sharif was unable to prevail upon his military who very sensibly refused to go and fight alongside Saudi troops in Yemen.
 
Indians and Americans have realized he cannot dominate his military and the Turks and Chinese know him and his tribe as crooked, slimy money grabbers.
 
Despite holding office for years, Sharif has paid no attention to healthcare, education, rule of law or job creation, focusing purely on shady, unnecessary projects providing easy kickbacks.
 
Now decades of money laundering,  defaulted bank loans and millions in offshore accounts and overseas properties stand to be exposed for what they are, the loot and plunder from 190 million poor uneducated helpless souls who are forced to sell or kill their children due to lack of justice, poverty and a gloomy future.
 
The question is how will things unfold? Will the shameless, immoral, hypocritical kleptocrats escape yet again to lick their wounds and enjoy their boots abroad or shall they deservedly meet the fate of another erstwhile billionaire, the late lamented Colonel Qaddafi who died bloodied and screaming in the street as his engeful subjects beat him to death?
 
The author is a geostrategist based in Brussels.

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Maryam Safdar is exaggerating the seriousness of the procedure.”just to gain sympathetic element from masses to divert attention from #PanamaLeaks

  1. AThe procedure takes less than 45 minutes, preparation takes about an hour and it requires a couple of days in hospital for observation ‏@AsadKharal  Maryam Safdar is exaggerating the seriousness of the procedure.”just to gain sumpathetic element from masses to divert from #PanamaLeaks
     
     
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    The procedure takes less than 45 minutes, preparation takes about an hour and it requires a couple of days in hospital for observation

     
  3. Following procedurennn according to a friend UK doctor working in same hospital. “Atrial Fibrillation Ablation is NOT an open heart surgery

     

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THE LAST CHANCE. By FAKIR AYAZUDDIN

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

THE LAST CHANCE.

  By

FAKIR AYAZUDDIN

 

 

 

 

 

    The figures showing the increase in our National debt are frightening. They show that not only are our leaders incompetent, but the reckless manner in which they have run the country to take the debt from 1500 billion at the end of Musharrafs era to 14000 billion after Zardari’ last spell, and then Nawaz has not ended his spell, but has borrowed ,18,800 billion! In just 18 months, and his term is not over yet.
A friend of mine who has been with the World bank for twenty years had the following comments on these figures.
‘Ayaz
Interesting figures.  The following points come to mind.
1. Performance under military govts  – two and half to three times better than under politicos.  Per capita income which measures people’s welfare showed consistent improvement under military govts. Stagnant under political govts. and particularly abysmal under the Bhuttos, who played with peoples expectations.  No delivery.

2. Scandalous level of debt financing under zardari.   He almost de-constructed the economy and the country.  You don’t see such rapid debt build up in peace time. Oil price increases may have contributed to no more that 25-50 pc of this increase. but nearly 900 pc increase in 4 to 5 years only shows that  our finances were in a free fall.  This can only sustain in a culture of corruption and cronyism or war.

The last line is particularly important ‘ in a culture of corruption cronyism or war. ‘
The point being that this level of debt increase can only be visited upon a State in a time of war. Gen Raheel Shareef understands well the word war. All army officers have lived with this word. And know well the cost. In lives, their lives are at the forefront. He should apply this yardstick to his decisions. In Wana his soldiers are at war. Not of their choosing, but when pushed to the wall the Pakistan Army under Gen. Raheel had to fight. This has been appreciated worldwide, and has earned him the respect of the world leadership. Gen Raheel should also realize that the actions of the politicians is as dangerous and as damaging as the Taliban. And must be tackled with the same ferocity.
     It shows how the recklessly the Zardari Government treated the State of Pakistan. Zardari has set a record of corruption and of singlehandedly destroying the economy of the country. Along with Gen Kayani, who certainly was a part of this crooked setup, for, without Kayanis tacit approval, this could not have continued.
     During this period no development of any kind, no roads, no airports no Gas/ Oil pipelines were laid. No infrastructure of any kind, the money vanished into the deep pockets of the PPP, via the Sindh Government network. The huge amounts of money– the 200 billion Rs a year that were skimmed off were added into the National Debt. None of the politicians in the opposition or the bureaucracy had the intelligence to realize the enormity of the crime. It is only the people who will continue to suffer their poverty, for their hope has been stolen from them by these rapacious politicians. The entire assembly should be branded as crooks. Even Imran Khan should be taken to task for allowing himself to become a part of this scam, just by attending this bogus assembly.
     It is now apparent that the politicians can not be allowed to govern any longer. They have continually raped the country, while making empty promises, that they had no intention of keeping. They have violated the constitution, and caused immense economic damage to the country. While giving no development of any kind.
     Nawaz Sharif is not visible in the country, neither is Shabaz Sharif. The scams are mounting, the latest is the Ship for the transport of LPG from Qatar. It has been exposed on TV that our port does not have the depth to accommodate such a large vessel, and smaller parcels of gas will have to be brought in. Strangely a company like Engro with sensible management in place could be caught in being party to such blunders. On the same level as Raja Rental. With huge amounts being paid on the contracted LPG if the delivery of the contracted amounts are not taken. These are actions that are part of the systematic rape of the country. Why is this being allowed to continue.?
    Gen Raheel should understand that we the people are powerless to stop this attack on the country, for we are told to wait for the next election. Gen Raheel should understand that there may not be a Pakistan left in 24 months time. He has to act now, for with each year another 1000 billion will be added to our burden. For him there will be no fig leaf of the constitution to hide behind. That fig leaf has been worn threadbare by the politicians, till it is now transparent and everyone can see through it. Anyone in support of the status quo is guilty of treason. This country has contract killers on the loose, unlicensed weapons are freely available– and were on hire till the recent past, but now there is such a huge number available that it is cheaper to buy. Crime does pay, and the politicians are the success story for crime.
     Gen Raheel will have to put a stop to this rot. Otherwise the country will pay a horrific price. Even Imran Khan will realise that being a part of this system will involve him in the resultant mess. How will Imran say he was not involved.?
     Gen Sahib, you must act now, in defence of the country. It is the only one we have.

 

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Low Attendance Mars a Futile National Assembly Session:Parliamentarians Take the Money & Run

Out of a Parliament of 342, only 42 members were present in the Assembly on Friday

 

 

 

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Is this what the Feudal Politicians call Democracy ? It looks already Derailed

 

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