Justice Retd Azmat Saeed appointed head of Broadsheet commission

ISLAMABAD: The federal government has notified the appointment of Justice (retd) Azmat Saeed Shaikh as the head of an inquiry commission to investigate into Broadsheet scandal, ARY News reported on Saturday.

A notification has been issued by the Cabinet Secretariat regarding the appointment of Justice Retd Azmat Saeed Shaikh as the head of the inquiry commission on Broadsheet revelations.

It stated that Shaikh’s appointment was made under Section 3 of the Pakistan Commissions of Inquiry Act 2017, whereas, the terms of reference (ToRs) was also mentioned in the notification.

Read: Broadsheet scandal: Federal govt prepares ToRs for inquiry commission

According to the notification obtained by ARY News, the ‘one man’ commission has been given 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.

It is pertinent to mention here that the inquiry commission will not only probe into Broadsheet findings but also investigate the involvement of some holders of high public offices 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 of 2000.

Read: Cabinet okays formation of commission to investigate Broadsheet scandal

It will also scrutinise 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 USD 1.5 million to the wrong person in 2008 which was not entitled to receive such payment.

Moreover, the commission is given directions ‘to identify as to whether the arbitration proceedings before the London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA) and subsequent appeal before the High Court of Justice in London regarding Broadsheet LLC were conducted diligently and efficiently.’

The latest decision was made by the federal government to launch a thorough probe after Broadsheet revelations in order to trace and track unlawfully laundered national wealth and repatriation of the looted money besides carrying out result-oriented accountability in accordance with the law.