‘Irregularities’ in BRT: PHC restrains NAB from acting against company

PESHAWAR: Restraining the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) from taking action against the construction company, the Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Thursday directed the directors to join the inquiry into the alleged irregularities in the Bus Rapid Transit project.

A division bench of the PHC comprising Justice Ijaz Anwar and Justice Wiqar Ahmad also withdrew the interim order due to the absence of Maqbool Sons’ director, Syed Masood Shah, in the court.

The BRT construction companies, Calsons, Maqbool Sons and Sichuan Province Geology Engineering were represented by counsels Shumail Ahmad Butt, Wasim Sajjad and Naeem Bukhari and Abdul Muneem, respectively. Deputy Prosecutor General Azem Dad and Additional Deputy Prosecutor General Muhammad Ali appeared for the NAB. Justice Ijaz Anwar remarked that the NAB had been raising issues and launching probes at a certain time after years. He said that the BRT was being constructed in 2017 but the NAB initiated investigation into the alleged irregularities at a specific time.

Naeem Bukhari informed the court that his client Sichuan Province Geology Engineering was a partner in the BRT construction and the NAB had issued notice to it to appear for the probe against alleged irregularities.

He pleaded that it was a foreign company and the NAB should have contacted the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Pakistan, before sending a call-up notice to the builders.He argued that the PHC had earlier also declared the project legally correct in a similar case while technically they had not given any observations. He told the bench that repeated probes cannot be conducted in a single case while the Supreme Court had also ordered a stay against NAB investigation.

Quoting precedents of SC in such cases, he said that the BRT had already been completed and now its popularity and vitality had become talk of the town, saying the NAB had exceeded its authority.

Upon this, the NAB prosecutor said the Chinese company had 2 percent shares in the contract and a probe against it was necessary. He pleaded that if the company had reservations then it should file a case in the International Arbitration Council.

Shumail Ahmad Butt said that the KP government had received four international awards for the BRT’s excellent performance. He, however, said that neither the politicians nor officials of the relevant departments were ever arrested and only the contractors were being harassed. He claimed that PHC and SC had already given verdicts in favour of BRT, saying that the Asian Development Bank had recently sent a letter declaring the project the best one.

Additional Deputy Prosecutor General Muhammad Ali said that the court cannot give relief after 9 B of NAB law due to the new amendment.