LONDON: After withdrawing its claim over the Sharif family’s Avenfield property in London, UK-based asset recovery firm Broadsheet LLC has paid 20,000 pounds in legal costs to the family of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N)supremo Nawaz Sharif on Tuesday.
As per details, Broadsheet withdrew its claim over the Avenfield flats after securing the payment from the Pakistani government however, ended up paying £20,000 for the Sharif family’s legal costs.
Commenting on the development, PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz termed the payment by Broadsheet another hard slap on the face of the clique of liars and mudslingers.
In a series of tweets, Maryam said, “Broadsheet had to pay Rs4.5 million to the lawyers of Nawaz Sharif for raising questions about the London flats and then running away from the court.” “One ends up suffering such consequences in the game of lies and deceit. Any shame?” she added.
الزام تراش, جھوٹوں کے ٹولے کے منہ پر ایک اور زناٹے دار طمانچہ۔ براڈ شیٹ کو لندن فلیٹس کے بارے میں سوال اٹھانے اور پھر عدالت سے بھاگ جانے پر نواز شریف کے وکلاء کو 45 لاکھ روپے ادا کرنے پڑے۔ جھوٹ اور فریب کے کھیل میں اسی طرح لینے کے دینے پڑ جاتے ہیں۔ کچھ شرم کچھ حیا؟ pic.twitter.com/4I1IZXoXYn
— Maryam Nawaz Sharif (@MaryamNSharif) February 23, 2021
She retorted that government authorities “had gone to catch corruption but got themselves out of the mess by paying Rs4.5m”.
Maryam said while Broadsheet had been humiliated for its false allegations in court, the accountability of those people remains who kept squandering the Pakistani nation’s money in the war of their personal ego, those who used to meet Broadsheet officials and ask for their share. All facts will become apparent to the nation now.
براڈشیٹ تو اپنے جھوٹے الزامات پر عدالت میں عزت افزائی کروا چکی ہے۔ مگر ابھی ان لوگوں کا احتساب باقی ہے جو پاکستانی عوام کا پیسا اپنی ذاتی انا کی جنگ میں جھونکتے رہے، جو چھپ چھپ کہ براڈشیٹ والوں کو ملتے تھے اور اپنا حصہ مانگتے تھے۔ اب سب حقائق عوام کے سامنے آئیں گے انشاءاللّہ!
— Maryam Nawaz Sharif (@MaryamNSharif) February 23, 2021
Earlier, the federal government had notified the appointment of Justice (retired) Azmat Saeed Shaikh as the head of an inquiry commission to investigate the Broadsheet revelations scandal.
A notification had been issued by the Cabinet Secretariat regarding the appointment of the retired judge as to the head of the inquiry commission on Broadsheet revelations. Shaikh had been appointment under Section 3 of the Pakistan Commissions of Inquiry Act 2017.
The terms of reference (ToRs) were also mentioned given him powers to constitute special teams comprising officers and experts of executive authorities. The commission was tasked to complete the probe within six weeks and send the report to the prime minister.
The inquiry commission will also investigate the involvement of some high public office holders in mega corruption cases which caused irreparable economic damage to the national exchequer.
The ToRs stated that the inquiry commission will ‘examine the process of selection and appointment of Trouvons LLC, Broadsheet LLC, and International Asset Recovery Limited (IAR) and executive of Agreements in the year 2000.
It will also scrutinize the circumstances, reasons and effect of cancellation of agreements with Broadsheet LLC and IAR in 2003 besides “identifying the reasons and effect of settlement and payments made on behalf of Pakistan to both firms in 2008, and whether the payments made were justified.”
The commission was also tasked to “identify the persons or officials responsible for making wrong payment of $1.5 million to the wrong person in 2008 which was not entitled to receive such payment.”
In 2000, Broadsheet LLC was engaged by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to trace offshore assets of Pakistani nationals but the agreement was canceled in 2003. The government last year paid $28 million to the firm in damages.
The firm had laid claim to four flats at Avenfield House to enforce the payment of the outstanding $22mowed to the firm by NAB. However, the claim was ordered as discharged by a London court.
Earlier, former English court of appeal judge Sir Anthony Evans QC, as sole arbitrator, issued an order for payment of $22m to Broadsheet by the Government of Pakistan in December 2018.
The government appealed the arbitration but was unsuccessful in its bid in July 2019. The arbitrator found that Pakistan and NAB had wrongfully repudiated an asset recovery agreement with Broadsheet and ruled that the company was entitled to damages.
Since then, the asset recovery firm had been attempting to secure the payment for its services by targeting several entities in the UK with purported links to the Pakistan government.
