ISLAMABAD: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has failed to submit its reply to the Accountability Court regarding an application filed by former chairman Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) Tauqeer Sadiq seeking acquittal in the Ogra scam case.

The Accountability Court-I judge, Muhammad Bashir, while hearing the case granted time to the NAB to file its reply regarding Sadiq’s acquittal application filed by him through his council under the National Accountability (Amendment) Act 2022.

During the hearing, the judge inquired about the NAB’s reply regarding Sadiq’s acquittal application. The NAB prosecutor, Sohail Arif, requested the court to grant more time for submitting the reply, which the court approved.

Arshad Tabraiz, counsel for the accused Meer Kamal Marri, Zaheer Siddiqui, Azeem Iqbal Siddiqui, Syed Arslan Iqbal, and Yousaf J Ansari, conducted partial cross-examination of the prosecution witness, Misbah Yaqub, joint executive director (JED) Ogra. Another witness Amir Tufail, an official of the Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) recorded his statement.

During the hearing, accused Mansoor Muzaffar Ali, Meer Kamal Marri, Zaheer Siddiqui, Azeem Iqbal Siddiqui, Syed Arslan Iqbal, and Yousaf J Ansari also filed acquittal applications before the court. Former Ogra chief Sadiq has been accused of misuse of powers to inflict Rs 82 billion losses to the national exchequer.

Sadiq is the main accused in the mega Rs 82 billion scam along with three co-accused - Muzaffer Ali, member gas, Mir Kamal Farid, member finance, and Jawad Jameel, staff officer to the Ogra chairman.

In the corruption reference, the NAB has alleged that Sadiq gave undue and illegal favours to private companies and individuals causing a loss of Rs 82 billion to the national exchequer.

It is further alleged that Sadiq and other co-accused in the case provided undue financial relief to private firms and individuals, and issued licenses for the CNG stations on fake or bogus documents.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022