Shahzad Akbar denies being absconder as no NAB warrant issued yet

KARACHI/LONDON: Former prime minister Imran Khan’s accountability chief Shahzad Akbar has denied he is an absconder in the Al-Qadir Trust case, saying he has responded to the two notices that he has received from the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).

In an interview with a private TV channel on Tuesday, he said NAB has not yet issued any warrant for him, and an absconder is a person who has been declared a proclaimed offender.

Akbar said he had been in the UK since April 2022 and was ready to answer all questions through video link, but NAB wanted to summon him to Pakistan. He wondered why he could not answer the bureau’s queries via video link when the Supreme Court itself was conducting its proceedings online.

Akbar mentioned that an Islamabad High Court judge had asked if NAB wanted to treat him (Akbar) the way Shahbaz Gill was treated. He asked why this case was called Al-Qadir Trust case instead of the NCA case. When they started using the name of the NCA, he said, then the NCA and the British government asked that their names should be kept away from this matter, whereas the whole matter surrounded the NCA.

The Al-Qadir Trust case was created out of malice for Imran Khan, he claimed, saying that the NCA had not written in any of its documents that this money (£190 million) had to go to the treasury of Pakistan. He said no indictment has taken place despite the passage of one and a half years in this case.

Akbar asked that it should be found out who deposited the money in the SC account. He further asked how he could present the agreement between the NCA and the business tycoon’s family. He said they only had those agreements on which they had put their signatures.

Akbar said he had written a summary to the federal cabinet and told the then PM (Imran Khan) that the option of not signing the agreement was also available. He said he had written in a note that the NCA-business tycoon’s family agreement could be challenged as well.

He said he mentioned two options in the note that he had written to the PM. One option was to let the NCA-businessman’s family agreement be done and that the money would be deposited in the SC account after the agreement. The second option was not to accept the settlement and file a case in the UK, he added.

Akbar said the NCA had not written it anywhere that there was a guilt in this money. He said the NCA had sought details regarding a family, and those details were provided to it.

He made it clear that the business tycoon’s family’s money was frozen on a letter from the Pakistani government, and based on a suspicion, the NCA ordered a forensic probe in 2018.

He explained that the East Forensic Order freezes money, not seizes it. The NCA had sought help from them in connection with the case, and it is the discretion of the NCA to make a case, conduct its proceedings and close it, he said.

Akbar said there were two agreements, and one of them was between the NCA and the businessman’s family. There was a civil settlement agreement between the NCA and the family, not with the Government of Pakistan.

The NCA had reached a non-disclosure agreement with the Pakistani government, and if the government was part of the settlement, it signature must be somewhere on the documents, he stressed. He also asked if there was any evidence that the government did not let the business tycoon family’s money be seized.

He called Faisal Vawda a liar, saying he had never criticized the cabinet decision. He said Vawda criticised the NCA matter after the passage of three years. When a member objects to a decision, it is mentioned in the cabinet minutes. The agreement that was to be signed was mentioned in the cabinet note, he said.

Akbar said it was up to the PTI chairman and his party to decide if they wanted to make the documents public. He said Shehbaz Sharif handed over the agreement after desealing it.

He had had been meeting the business tycoon before and after the NCA matter. He said business tycoon’s case was not with him, as he was an advisor, not a minister.

He also denied ever asking Bashir Memon to make a case against Justice Qazi Faez Essa about whom a person had given information.

Talking about the Toshakhana scandal, Akbar said he had never seen an Iwatch, so how he could have sold any watches from Toshakhana. He said NAB had asked him in a questionnaire if he had assisted in selling watches from Toshakhana. He said he met two journalist-like people in London and he told them Shehbaz Sharif had completely bowed down (before powers that be).

Akbar said he was surprised at the verdict in the TT scandal case, saying the verdict did not mention even a single word about the FIA’s seven volumes.

He mentioned that the meeting with Jahangir Tareen on the inquiry of the sugar scandal was arranged by General Faiz Hameed to influence the investigation. He complained that his brother had been picked up, and Pakistan’s most senior civil servant (Azam Khan) had been missing for a month, but no one was talking about it.

Praise for Nawaz Sharif

Former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s accountability chief Shahzad Akbar has praised former prime minister Nawaz Sharif.

In a tweet, Shahzad Akbar said he believed that Nawaz Sharif was a better person than his brother Shehbaz Sharif. Shahzad Akbar added that Nawaz Sharif was a good person because he has a history of standing up to the establishment.

The former accountability adviser took to Twitter after several Pakistani media forums reported that he had praised Nawaz Sharif in London, condemned former army chief General Bajwa for ousting him as well as the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) government. He said that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has got taste of the premiership now, which is very hard to give up.

This correspondent was part of a small group of journalists who met Shahzad Akbar at a musical evening with Ustad Shafqat Ali Khan by solicitor Rizwan Sulehria on the weekend. It was agreed that the conversation will remain off the record and it’s in that spirit that this correspondent didn’t report anything until others reported some parts and Shahzad Akbar himself tweeted about this.

Shahzad Akbar regretted that several fake cases have been registered against him and his brother Murad Akbar has been arbitrarily detained. He said he didn’t speak to media because his viewpoint is not given due to censorship.

The National Accountability Bureau has issued summons to former accountability advisor Mirza Shahzad Akbar asking him to appear in the alleged illegal transfer of £ 190 million pounds in the Al-Qadir Trust case but Akbar has ignored these notices.

On Monday, a special court in Lahore acquitted Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s son Suleman Shehbaz and others in a Rs16 billion money laundering case, believed to be made on orders of Shahzad Akbar. The court found that there was no evidence of Suleman Sharif’s involvement in the case and it looks clear that the case was politically motivated.

Special Central Court Judge Bakht Fakhar Bahzad also directed the secretary establishment to take legal action against Shahzad Akbar, advisor to former premier Imran Khan as well as a former FIA director general and some other FIA officials for lodging a frivolous and baseless case.

Shahzad Akbar was the advisor to Imran Khan on accountability during the PTI regime while he was also made the head of the East Recovery Unit (AU). He tendered resignation from his powerful position a year before the fall of Imran Khan’s government. Shahzad Akbar left Pakistan within two weeks after the removal of Khan’s government in a vote of no confidence move.

He has not returned to Pakistan ever since and lives mostly in London with his family.