Accused to be Indicted for Offences Against State Soon, Bank Sources
Finance Minister Delaying Appointment NBP Chief to Reap More Benefits
Top Bankers Obliging Politicians, Defaulters, Those Who Got Loans Waived-Off
Supreme Court, Public Accounts Committee Asked to Take Notice
By Tariq Khattak*
Islamabad: Dr. Mirza Ibrar Baig, Senior Executive Vice President (SEVP) National Bank of Pakistan (NBP), has resigned following renewed investigations against him by different security agencies on serious charges levelled against him over the years.
Baig has been under the radar since years and alleged by the national security establishment for being an India spy. His suspicious activities continues despite being under probe that only helped the suspicions of agencies against him, insiders said.
Senior Executive Vice President Group Head Human Resource Management and Administration Group Mr. Baig, an Indian by birth, got Pakistani nationality by tempering with papers and bypassing law of the land.
He remained under investigations by various national security agencies since long. However, he managed to neutralise some probing officers by providing incentives that included appointments of relatives of those who were digging into his past, documents available with this scribe said.
Sources say that the accused many be charged soon for offences in the court of law.
The acting President NBP, Qamar Hussain, hasn’t accepted Baig’s resignation so far, insiders said. Influential Qamar got himself appointed against a specially created post in the bank while the SBP, failing test of being a good regulator repeatedly, decided to overlook many critical requirements.
The Ministry of Finance, that backed former President Ali Raza for over a decade, is still supporting him and providing all benefits to him. Many top officials of the ministry have their close relatives appointed in the NBP against lucrative posts. They have forced bank to sign deals with businesses run by their blood relatives.
Those is the power including Finance Minister Abdul Hafeez Sheikh are said to be avoiding appointment of a President on permanent basis in NBP as the present president would do anything to please them irrespective of what rules and regulations say.
This is the reason the Finance Minister has been avoiding appointment of a proper Board of Directors in the bank since March 2010. The current board consist of only three while regulations say that a board must comprise of five members, insiders said.
Thus, all the decisions of the NBP BoD stands illegal and open to litigation in the courts. Present government try to cheat masses with window dressing and has never opted for a fundamental change for improvement of dwindling economy, they added.
Corruption is a way of life for elite in Pakistan which has kept millions under the poverty line and send economy in the tailspin.
Sources said that Mr. Qamar is providing hefty loans to politicians and other influential including defaulters and those who got loans waived worth billions.
Those who are getting major share in the pie are all close to President of Pakistan Asif Ali Zardari. These include Islam uddin Sheikh, Riaz Laljee, Iqbal Z Ahmed and Anwar Majeed etc.
The questions remained to be answered in that why NBP is the only government owned commercial bank that will fund projects like the RPP’s that are owned by Iqbal Z. Ahmed and Anwar Majeed. It would happily extend loans to companies that give Mir Raza son of Ali Raza allocations of LPG without him having a LPG marketing company
All the projects that Mr. Zardari’s front men wanted funded was being done by Mr.Syed Ali Raza former President and brother Syed Salim Raza, former governor SBP and involved in money laundering scam.
Not in distant past, Majeed and Zardari decided to expand their business empire and Ali Raza even went to extent of cancelling the loans for Dewan Groups sugar and cement mills to enable the Anwar-Zardari team to buy these assets at throwaway prices.
Supreme Court and Public Accounts Committee need to realise that NBP is a premier bank which has been bailing out many businesses and institutions facing financial difficulties. What if it fails due to unabated corruption of crooked bankers and their political masters?
