BoP scam: meeting on plea bargain offer remains inconclusive

A meeting of National Accountability Bureau''s legal team and consultants with the counsel for Haris Steel Mills for a plea bargain offer in the Bank of Punjab multi-billion scam case remained inconclusive. Ahmed Awais, the counsel for the owner of Haris Steel Mills, told Business Recorder on Saturday that soon after the proceedings of the Bank of Punjab scam case last week he went to the NAB authorities to conduct a meeting, which was not successful.
A three-member bench led by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry adjourned the hearing of the Bank of Punjab scam case on March 28 when Ahmed Awais sought more time with a plea that he had already scheduled his meeting on a plea bargain offer with the NAB high-ups.
It has been reported that the NAB had rejected a plea bargain offer of Rs 3.077 billion made by Sheik Muhammad Afzal in the Bank of Punjab scam. According to a board meeting, chaired by the Chairman NAB Admiral Fasih Bokhari (Retd), the NAB decided to re-determine the ''plea bargain'' amount as the principal amount borrowed by Sheikh Afzal and his family from the Bank is Rs 8.4 billion.
Awais claimed that according to re-scheduling agreement, principal amount which his client borrowed from the Bank of Punjab differed from the amount that NAB had determined saying the exact details of the borrowed amount by Sheikh Afzal could be determined from the bank ledgers.
He said that a discussion during the meeting for a plea bargain offer was focused on the rescheduling of the agreement. According to him, when the Bank of Punjab and the NAB are not honouring the rescheduling agreement then amount mentioned in the agreement should not be taken as the principal amount.
When asked whether he could justify his contention that the NAB was not competent to investigate the instant case, Awais responded that according to the NAB Ordinance, if there was a dispute with regard to rescheduling agreement or imprudent loan then the NAB cannot investigate or hold any inquiry without a reference from the Governor of the State Bank of Pakistan as envisaged in Section 31 D of the NAB Ordinance. He revealed that the NAB had not received any reference from the Governor SBP in the matter in hand.
In order to determine the actual payable amount without mark-up or interest to Bank of Punjab from his client, service of any audit company of international repute could be hired, according to him. Sheikh Afzal, the owner of Haris Steel Mills, is currently being tried in the Bank of Punjab multi-billion scam after the apex court took a suo motu notice of the case.