Broadsheet judgment to be made public

LONDON: The Government of Pakistan has told lawyers acting for Broadsheet that it wants to make public the original 2016 arbitration judgment that had decided against the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) and in favour of Pakistan.

The Broadsheet LLC v. Islamic Republic of Pakistan and National Accountability Bureau (NAB) judgment was made by Sir Anthony Evans under the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, Case No. 12912001.

This correspondent has seen communication between Pakistan’s lawyers at Allen & Overy LLP and Crowell & Moring LLP. Pakistan’s lawyers have sought permission from the former assets recovery firm Broadsheet’s lawyer that the Government of Pakistan is aware of recent press statements made by Kaveh Moussavi in relation to the Broadsheet vs. NAB proceedings. Allen & Overy, seeking permission from Kaveh Moussavi, wrote to Broadsheet’s lawyers that Pakistan wishes to “place the liability and quantum awards issued by Sir Anthony Evans into the public domain”.

Speaking to The News, Kaveh Moussavi said there will be some “transparency” when the arbitration judgment is published. He confirmed that Pakistan had written to the Broadsheet’s lawyers “asking me to confirm my insistence on TV that the parties consent to publication of the Court Judgment.

“The people of Pakistan will now be able to judge for themselves.” Kaveh Moussavi said he will give consent to his lawyers for the report to be made public. “Sir Anthony’s judgment is damning and shows how corrupt and inefficient NAB is,” Moussavi said.

For over a week, the issue of Pakistan’s loss of US$65 million has dominated the Pakistani media after The News exclusively reported how Pakistan lost the cases and got its accounts in London frozen. Pakistan has paid $29 million to Broadsheet, nearly $20 million to its London lawyers and expenses in Pakistan are around $5 million.