BROADSHEET CASE

INTRODUCTION

On 20 July 2000, on the orders of the Attorney General's Office and the then President General Pervez
Musharraf, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) of Pakistan hired two asset recovery companies,
namely the Isle of Man registered Broadsheet LLC and UK based International Asset Recovery (IAR), to
investigate and track the illegally accumulated wealth of Pakistani politicians and other influential
figures including the former Prime Minister of Pakistan Nawaz Sharif. As per the agreement signed, the
asset recovery companies would get 20% of the value of the assets thus recovered as service fees.in
2003, the NAB terminated the agreement with Broadsheet, after making settlements with Nawaz Sharif
and others. However, Broadsheet claimed that it had not been informed of the settlements and it was
entitled to service fees on assets it had recovered. As a result, the company filed a case of arbitration
with the London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA) over non-payment of its service fees. The
Broadsheet Company sent a notice to the Pakistan government claiming damages of $580 million. It
claimed that NAB had signed an agreement to investigate 200 individuals and the Pakistan government
owed it $100 million for investigating and recovery from 6 individuals. It also said that it had delivered
proofs of Nawaz Sharif's London apartments in 2000 and demanded $21.5 million for delivering these
proofs.

POSITION OF GOVERNMENT OF PAKISTAN

the government had received written permission from Mr Moussavi to make the judgment public and
that Prime Minister Imran Khan had ordered that it be shared with the people of Pakistan without delay
the judgment clearly showed the cost that Pakistan had to pay. The judgment by Sir Anthony Evans
spells out in great detail the follies committed since 2000 by NAB and its lawyers. It shows clearly how
shoddy contracts and shady decision-making led to Pakistan cutting a sorry figure in court. This
incompetence laced with political expediency has cost the Pakistani taxpayer $28m in addition to a loss
of face. According to the judgment, the contract that NAB signed with Broadsheet in 2000 included a
clause that allowed Broadsheet to claim a 20pc commission on all NAB recoveries outside Pakistan and
also domestically, including such cases that Broadsheet may not have been involved in. At the hearing, a
former NAB chairman has been quoted as saying that he thought the contract was only for Broadsheet
work outside of Pakistan. Such was the level of incompetence. As listed in the judgment, that Pakistan
agreed to settle with Broadsheet but ended up giving $1.5m to the wrong person. The judgment says
the fault was clearly that of NAB and its lawyers who should have known that the person they were
making the payment to was not the legal recipient of the money Prime Minister Imran Khan has
constitute a committee to recommend a line of action on the findings of the judgment, including those
pertaining to former prime minister Nawaz Sharif. Those who are responsible for decisions and actions
that have cost Pakistan dearly must be identified, investigated and taken to task. At the same time, this
committee should also look into the disclosures made by Mr Moussavi after the judgment, including the
allegation that some people during this government’s stint had asked him for bribes. There are plenty of
skeletons in the Broadsheet cupboard and they must be brought out into the open.

CAN A COURT OF U.K PASS AN ORDER AGAINST THE GOVERNMENT OF PAKISTAN?

Being a sovereign country Pakistan has privilege that no court of any country can make any decision
against its government but its institutions individually in this case “Broadsheet Vs Islamic Republic of
Pakistan and NAB” the British Court has passed the order against the institution i.e NAB that it did not
complied its commitment.

WHY THE COMMISSION DID NOT INTERVIEW THE OWNER OF THE BROADSHEET LLC?

The head of the mission did "not consider it necessary" to record the statements of Broadsheet owner
Kaveh Moussavi and Tariq Fawad Malik who was part of the firm's team in Pakistan. Moussavi was a
"convicted person" who had levelled allegations against certain personalities, the report said.

OPTIONS PAKISTAN CONSIDERING REGARDING THE CASE.

Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs is planning to get into an expensive legal fight with the United Bank
Limited’s UK branch for debiting nearly $29 million to the accounts of the Broadsheet LLC as the huge
fallout of Pakistan’s total loss of $65 million in the case starts to roll out and the state of Pakistan takes
stock of monumental mistakes in the course of two decades. Papers available with these
correspondents show that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has taken off its hands, suggesting that it was
not in the loop while multi-million dollar cases were being fought in the UK. The government of Pakistan
has decided to launch action against the UBL’s London branch for the “breach of trust, unauthorized
debit of accounts and becoming Third Party without informing its client (Pakistan High Commission in
London”, according to the minutes of an inter-ministerial meeting held at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
under the chairmanship of the special secretary (Europe) where several decisions about the Broadsheet
saga were taken. It was decided at the meeting that “the accounts of the Pakistan High Commission
would be shifted from the UBL UK to some other bank and the National Accountability Bureau would
remit the remaining amount (about $0.235 million) to the Pakistan High Commission at the earliest.
According to the meeting minutes, details of the court proceedings, including the detailed judgment,
would be shared with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, indicating that the Foreign Office had no idea what
had been happening. Another set of papers available with these reporters show that the National
Assembly Secretariat has scheduled a meeting on January 18 in the parliament house to discuss the
Broadsheet vs NAB issue. The parliamentarians will be briefed on “the British court’s order to debit Rs
450 crore from the accounts of the Pakistan High Commission London over non-payment of penalty by
the NAB to the foreign assets recovery firm Broadsheet LLC and the British court’s denial of Pakistan’s
claim to 35 million pounds in the Nizam of Hyderabad case”. The London High Court’s Financial Division
had issued on 17 December a Final Third Party Order for payment to the Broadsheet LLC by December
30, 2020. The Foreign Ministry wanted to get into a legal fight with the UBL, but the bank had no choice
as not paying to the Broadsheet LLC would have led to the contempt of court order against the bank,
possible cancellation of the license and negative ratings. After the order was made, the Pakistan High
Commission (PHC) threatened that it will stop doing business with the UBL if it made payment to the
Broadsheet. The bank had asked the Pakistan government to “facilitate the payment of $28,706,533.34
as in case of non-receipt of written payment instructions by December 30, 2020, the bank will have no
choice to proceed with unilateral debiting of the accounts of the Pakistan High Commission to meet the
payment amount as stipulated in the court order.” In response, the PHC wrote to the UBL, conveying
that any attempt by the bank to unilaterally debit the account of the Pakistan High Commission to meet
the payment amount, without instructions, would be a violation of the international law and a breach of
trust and will have impact on our future relationship with the UBL.”