Law, Development and How Not To Do It

A Brief Happening of events:

Irfan Iqbal Puri, tortured to extract money, officials driven by greed of reward and appreciation. Irfan was subjected to a total six months of illegal arrest including two months of a 24 hours a day solitary confinement, which also contains a 14 days period at The Attock Fort, in a 4ft x 7ft dark death cell, Irfan was not shown day light for the 14 days at The Attock Fort, was physically, mentally and verbally abused to the limit, perhaps treated as an Indian spy (They are Kept in these cells).

Irfan, was victimized for pure pleasure and greed,

1. A businessman of repute carrying on businesses among others as a member of the Karachi Stock Exchange, Oil Trading, Tank Farms for Oil Storage, Software development, Property Development, etc... Prior to his arrest on December 15, 1999, the victim carried out businesses in Pakistan with Hard work, integrity and acumen, the victim at an age of 37 had earned irreparable reputation for honesty and fair play in all his dealings, national as well as international.

2. NAB without making any good faith investigation or inquiry, which was obligatory on them, arrested Irfan, on December 15, 1999 from his office at Karachi, (On the Jan 16, 2000, the victim was forced to sign some per-dated documents, at Malir).

3. The arrest was not based on reasonable grounds. The victim was never informed of the grounds of his arrest. He was detained at Malir Cantonment for about seven weeks until February 12, 2000, then was shifted and kept at National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Police Station at M.P.A. Hostel Karachi. On February 27, 2000, he was shifted to Attock Fort where he was confined until March 11, 2000 and on which date he was shifted back to Karachi.

4. At Malir Cantonment, he was interrogated several times by the Joint Investigation Team, which included army personnel, and F.I.A. members of the Joint Investigation team searched and collected extensive records of the Companies in futile endeavor to find evidences of corrupt practices on the part of Irfan Puri. The thrust of inquiries and investigation related to foreign currency accounts and evasion of income tax. Irfan, maintained and explained that in view of the Tax Amnesty Scheme announced by the Chief Executive, General Pervaiz Musharaf, on December 15, 1998 and in view of the provisions contained in the protection of Economics Reforms Act 1992 there was no warrant or justification on the part of the Joint Investigation Team to investigate and inquire about his foreign currency accounts and income tax matters. In course of this investigation, it further appeared that Irfan, was detained due to a malicious complaint by one Mr. Mohammad Taufiq El Khattani motivated by enmity and greed for extracting money from his ex-employer, Saudi Pak LPG. Mr. Khattani was pressurizing him to use his business influence on Saudi Pak LPG to which he did not agree.

5. During his confinement at Malir Cantonment, he was kept in Solitary Confinement with effect from January 15, 2000 until he was shifted to the NAB police station situated at M.P.A. Hostel Karachi.

6. Due to extreme agony and distress caused by his detention, both mental and physical health of his wife was gravely affected and his wife suffered a miscarriage.

7. Time and Time again his wife Naveen Puri through her lawyers requested NAB through letters, fax etc to inform of the grounds of arrest and to allow clarification of any alleged Corruption of which he may have been accused. But NAB never informed the grounds and substance on the basis of which the he had been arrested. NAB had no valid ground for his arrest and detention.

8. On February 12, 2000 he was shifted to Nab Police Station at M.P.A. Hostel Karachi where he was kept in Solitary Confinement without any facilities. He was not allowed to meet anyone and was neither provided with proper food or medical facilities despite requests, which were of utmost importance as he is suffering from heart problem since his childhood. Here too he was extensively interrogated and was threatened that his family members would also be arrested if he would not agree with them.

9. ON February 27, 2000, Irfan was flown to Islamabad and was then taken to Attock Fort. There he was confined in a solitary cell, measuring about 4 feet x 7 feet with 18 feet high walls. There was a yellow zero watt bulb on top of an extensively high ceiling and a flat sheet steel door. Light was such that he could not even read the Quran. he went through a series of interrogations at all hours of the day and night. As a form of torture he was forced to keep his hands above his head for hours and was manhandled, pushed/thrown from one to another with a sack covering his head, was subjected to the worst verbal, physical, mental torture. He was threatened with dire consequences, including risk to his life and his family members. Sleep deprivation methods were used upon him. He would be taken out of the cell at odd hours and his head covered with a black sack/hood and a band tied over the hood around his eyes and army men holding him by his arms for interrogation purpose dragging him to another room where he would be interrogated for hours on end. Time and time again he would be asked what his family members were willing to pay to save his life. They would threaten him that if he would not pay up his family members would also be arrested and brought to Attock Fort, the family received phone calls at odd times, also in the middle of the nights and by FIA/NAB officials giving threats, and calling for family members to visit the NAB office/FIA center.

10. After spending 14 days in this death cell without seeing light, Irfan was allowed to meet his father and wife in light and in presence of army men, where his father told him that the NAB officials have been making phone call to Irfan’s father asking him to come over to the NAB offices, that was the final breaking point where Irfan asked his dad to hold it for two days and that Irfan will try is best to settle one way or the other with NAB… if only one could imagine what this meant to Irfan…

11. Since his unlawful arrest he underwent extreme mental torture leading to a complete nervous breakdown and deterioration in his childhood heart condition. He lost more than 12 kg in weight.

12. He finally broke down under threat intimidation and coercion and it was in such a state that he agreed to make payment of sum of Rs. Three Hundred Million to the NAB.

13. After his verbal agreement at Attock Fort to arrange for payment of Rs. 300,000,000/-, he was brought to Karachi on PIA flight from Islamabad in handcuffs on March 11, 2000. The Plaintiff saw sunlight for the first time since he was brought to Attock Fort when he was taken out of his cell without any cloth covering his eyes.

14. At NAB Police Station in Karachi he was threatened, pressurized coerced to agree in writing to the payment of Rs. 300 million, of which Rs. 100 million had to be paid in advance before his release. He was told, “there is no law just pay up”.

15. The FIA and other staff of NAB started visiting the offices and house of Irfan from day to day and harassing the staff members and hindering work, rather making it impossible to run a business. The offices were surrounded by FIA, NAB, Rangers` officials and military personals demanding the remaining payment and threatening dire consequences otherwise. The abuse stretched to a point where some senior office executives were made to strip naked by removal of all clothes hence torture and harassment to unparalleled height.

16. He was also coerced to hand over property documents as “security” for payment of the remaining amount of Rs. 200,000,000/- (Rupees two hundred million). Hence, had to hand over original property documents over to NAB of five (5) properties which actually have an aggregate value of Rs. 400,000,000/- (Rupees Four Hundred Million)..
17. Even after all this, NAB did not release him, but kept him under house arrest / unlawful detention until June 14, 2000.

18. Whilst Irfan, was under house arrest two dozen Rangers were stationed around the clock in and around the house.

19. Irfan, ultimately released from house arrest on June 14, 2000 after 3 months. Total captivity being six months, had several meetings with General Amjad, and suggestions made by Irfan, resulted in savings of over a billion rupees in Oil imports.

20. General Syed Amjad made many promises/ commitments in the name of justice that money extracted from Irfan Puri would be returned to him. General Amjad appreciated and understood that grave injustice had been done, both in private and in presence of various individuals.

21. Irfan, in frustration filed a number of court cases against NAB, FIA, etc, giving the ordeal of the experience gone through, as a result, bogus Income tax/Wealth Tax demands have been issued by the department on the behest of NAB officials visiting the department forcing tax officers to issue demands.

22. Irfan, then also had meetings with General Khalid Maqbool the new Chairman of NAB for justice but regrettably no action was taken.


23. However, on the 17th of May 2003, General Munir Hafiz (as NAB Chairman) visited Irfan`s house in Karachi to meet with his family, Said ``all you have seen of NAB is tha hard side, I want to show the family the softer side of NAB``, during the earlier meetings that Irfan had with General Hafiz, Irfan was told a number of times by General Hafiz that he would arrange for a face to face meeting with General Amjad, Himself (to witness) and Irfan, however, when Irfan asked General Hafiz, as to when the meeting would happen, General Hafiz said ``The meeting can`t take place, I would not want to embarass the General (General Amjad)``.

General Hafeez, on his visit was Kind, straight fowrard, and honest, however, he asked Irfan to withdraw legal prodeeding against NAB, and that NAB would make sure Irfan benefits in other areas, or else.... you can`t fight us.

23. He also sought an appointment with Chief Executive General Pervaiz Musharraf, without success.

Still goes on...

---

A Brief Happening of events:

Irfan Iqbal Puri, tortured to extract money, officials driven by greed of reward and appreciation. Irfan was subjected to a total six months of illegal arrest including two months of a 24 hours a day solitary confinement, which also contains a 14 days period at The Attock Fort, in a 4ft x 7ft dark death cell, Irfan was not shown day light for the 14 days at The Attock Fort, was physically, mentally and verbally abused to the limit, perhaps treated as an Indian spy (They are Kept in these cells).
Irfan, was victimized for pure pleasure and greed.

1. A businessman of repute carrying on businesses among others as a member of the Karachi Stock Exchange, Oil Trading, Tank Farms for Oil Storage, Software development, Property Development, Prior to his arrest on December 15, 1999, the victim carried out businesses in Pakistan with Hard work, integrity and acumen, the victim at an age of 37 had earned irreparable reputation for honesty and fair play in all his dealings, national as well as international.

2. NAB without making any good faith investigation or inquiry, which was obligatory on them, arrested Irfan, on December 15, 1999 from his office at Karachi, (On the Jan 16, 2000, the victim was forced to sign some per-dated documents, at Malir).

3. The arrest was not based on reasonable grounds. The victim was never informed of the grounds of his arrest. He was detained at Malir Cantonment for about seven weeks until February 12, 2000, then was shifted and kept at National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Police Station at M.P.A. Hostel Karachi. On February 27, 2000, he was shifted to Attock Fort where he was confined until March 11, 2000 and on which date he was shifted back to Karachi.

4. At Malir Cantonment, he was interrogated several times by the Joint Investigation Team, which included army personnel, and F.I.A. members of the Joint Investigation team searched and collected extensive records of the Companies in futile endeavor to find evidences of corrupt practices on the part of Irfan Puri. The thrust of inquiries and investigation related to foreign currency accounts and evasion of income tax. Irfan, maintained and explained that in view of the Tax Amnesty Scheme announced by the Chief Executive, General Pervaiz Musharaf, on December 15, 1998 and in view of the provisions contained in the protection of Economics Reforms Act 1992 there was no warrant or justification on the part of the Joint Investigation Team to investigate and inquire about his foreign currency accounts and income tax matters. In course of this investigation, it further appeared that Irfan, was detained due to a malicious complaint by one Mr. Mohammad Taufiq El Khattani motivated by enmity and greed for extracting money from his ex-employer, Saudi Pak LPG. Mr. Khattani was pressurizing him to use his business influence on Saudi Pak LPG to which he did not agree.

5. During his confinement at Malir Cantonment, he was kept in Solitary Confinement with effect from January 15, 2000 until he was shifted to the NAB police station situated at M.P.A. Hostel Karachi.

6. Due to extreme agony and distress caused by his detention, both mental and physical health of his wife was gravely affected and his wife suffered a miscarriage.

7. Time and Time again his wife Naveen Puri through her lawyers requested NAB through letters, fax etc to inform of the grounds of arrest and to allow clarification of any alleged Corruption of which he may have been accused. But NAB never informed the grounds and substance on the basis of which the he had been arrested. NAB had no valid ground for his arrest and detention.

8. On February 12, 2000 he was shifted to Nab Police Station at M.P.A. Hostel Karachi where he was kept in Solitary Confinement without any facilities. He was not allowed to meet anyone and was neither provided with proper food or medical facilities despite requests, which were of utmost importance as he is suffering from heart problem since his childhood. Here too he was extensively interrogated and was threatened that his family members would also be arrested if he would not agree with them.

9. ON February 27, 2000, Irfan was flown to Islamabad and was then taken to Attock Fort. There he was confined in a solitary cell, measuring about 4 feet x 7 feet with 18 feet high walls. There was a yellow zero watt bulb on top of an extensively high ceiling and a flat sheet steel door. Light was such that he could not even read the Quran. he went through a series of interrogations at all hours of the day and night. As a form of torture he was forced to keep his hands above his head for hours and was manhandled, pushed/thrown from one to another with a sack covering his head, was subjected to the worst verbal, physical, mental torture. He was threatened with dire consequences, including risk to his life and his family members. Sleep deprivation methods were used upon him. He would be taken out of the cell at odd hours and his head covered with a black sack/hood and a band tied over the hood around his eyes and army men holding him by his arms for interrogation purpose dragging him to another room where he would be interrogated for hours on end. Time and time again he would be asked what his family members were willing to pay to save his life. They would threaten him that if he would not pay up his family members would also be arrested and brought to Attock Fort, the family received phone calls at odd times, also in the middle of the nights and by FIA/NAB officials giving threats, and calling for family members to visit the NAB office/FIA center.

10. After spending 14 days in this death cell without seeing light, Irfan was allowed to meet his father and wife in light and in presence of army men, where his father told him that the NAB officials have been making phone call to Irfan’s father asking him to come over to the NAB offices, that was the final breaking point where Irfan asked his dad to hold it for two days and that Irfan will try is best to settle one way or the other with NAB… if only one could imagine what this meant to Irfan…

11. Since his unlawful arrest he underwent extreme mental torture leading to a complete nervous breakdown and deterioration in his childhood heart condition. He lost more than 12 kg in weight.

12. He finally broke down under threat intimidation and coercion and it was in such a state that he agreed to make payment of sum of Rs. Three Hundred Million to the NAB.

13. After his verbal agreement at Attock Fort to arrange for payment of Rs. 300,000,000/-, he was brought to Karachi on PIA flight from Islamabad in handcuffs on March 11, 2000. The Plaintiff saw sunlight for the first time since he was brought to Attock Fort when he was taken out of his cell without any cloth covering his eyes.

14. At NAB Police Station in Karachi he was threatened, pressurized coerced to agree in writing to the payment of Rs. 300 million, of which Rs. 100 million had to be paid in advance before his release. He was told, “there is no law just pay up”.

15. The FIA and other staff of NAB started visiting the offices and house of Irfan from day to day and harassing the staff members and hindering work, rather making it impossible to run a business. The offices were surrounded by FIA, NAB, Rangers` officials and military personals demanding the remaining payment and threatening dire consequences otherwise. The abuse stretched to a point where some senior office executives were made to strip naked by removal of all clothes hence torture and harassment to unparalleled height.

16. He was also coerced to hand over property documents as “security” for payment of the remaining amount of Rs. 200,000,000/- (Rupees two hundred million). Hence, had to hand over original property documents over to NAB of five (5) properties which actually have an aggregate value of Rs. 400,000,000/- (Rupees Four Hundred Million)..

17. Even after all this, NAB did not release him, but kept him under house arrest / unlawful detention until June 14, 2000.

18. Whilst Irfan, was under house arrest two dozen Rangers were stationed around the clock in and around the house.

19. Irfan, ultimately released from house arrest on June 14, 2000 after 3 months. Total captivity being six months, had several meetings with General Amjad, and suggestions made by Irfan, resulted in savings of over a billion rupees in Oil imports.

20. General Syed Amjad made many promises/ commitments in the name of justice that money extracted from Irfan Puri would be returned to him. General Amjad appreciated and understood that grave injustice had been done, both in private and in presence of various individuals.

21. Irfan, in frustration filed a number of court cases against NAB, FIA, etc, giving the ordeal of the experience gone through, as a result, bogus Income tax/Wealth Tax demands have been issued by the department on the behest of NAB officials visiting the department forcing tax officers to issue demands.

22. Irfan, then also had meetings with General Khalid Maqbool the new Chairman of NAB for justice but regrettably no action was taken.

23. However, on the 17th of May 2003, General Munir Hafiz (as NAB Chairman) visited Irfan`s house in Karachi to meet with his family, Said ``all you have seen of NAB is tha hard side, I want to show the family the softer side of NAB``, during the earlier meetings that Irfan had with General Hafiz, Irfan was told a number of times by General Hafiz that he would arrange for a face to face meeting with General Amjad, Himself (to witness) and Irfan, however, when Irfan asked General Hafiz, as to when the meeting would happen, General Hafiz said ``The meeting can`t take place, I would want to embarass the General (General Amjad)``.

General Hafeez, on his visit was Kind, straight fowrard, and honest, however, he asked Irfan to withdraw legal prodeeding against NAB, and that NAB would make sure Irfan benefits in other areas, or else.... you can`t fight us.
23. He also sought an appointment with Chief Executive General Pervaiz Musharraf, without success.

Still goes on...

---

A True Story of a Businessman, in Pakistan…


Irfan Iqbal Puri, tortured to extract money, officials driven by greed of reward and appreciation. Irfan was subjected to a total six months of illegal arrest including two months of a 24 hours day solitary confinement, which also contains a 14 days period at the Attock Fort, in a 4ft x 7ft dark death cell, Irfan was not shown day light for the 14 days at the Attock, and was physically, mentally and verbally abused to the limit, perhaps treated as an Indian spy.

Irfan, was victimized for pure pleasure and greed,


1. A businessman of repute carrying on businesses among others as a member of the Karachi Stock Exchange, import of oil and acting as agent and distributor for the supply of oil, for the last fifteen years. The victim has been promoting and mobilizing investments in the oil infrastructure / finical markets Pakistan. The victim, his family members and friends invested and operated following, among other, businesses: (a) IP Securities (Private) Limited; (b) IP Terminal Limited; (c) IP Travels (Private) Limited (d) IP Marketing (Private) Limited; (e) National Finance & Investment Services Limited; (f) Oiltanking (Private) Limited and (g) Neo Vision (Private) Limited. Prior to his arrest on December 15, 1999, the victim was managing and / or consulting the affairs of the Said Companies. Hard work, integrity and acumen, the victim at an age of 37 had earned irreparable reputation for honesty and fair play in all his dealings, national as well as international.

2. NAB without making any good faith investigation or enquiry, which was obligatory on them, arrested Irfan, on December 15, 1999 from his office at Karachi,
(On the Jan 16, 2000, the victim was forced to sign some per-dated documents, at malir).

3. The arrest was not based on reasonable grounds. The victim was never informed of the grounds of his arrest. The and was detained at Malir Cantonment for about seven weeks until February 12, 2000, then was shifted and kept at National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Police Station at M.P.A. Hostel Karachi. On February 27, 2000, he was shifted to Attock Fort where he was confined until March 11, 2000 and on which date he was shifted back to Karachi.

4. At Malir Cantonment, he was interrogated several times by the Joint Investigation Team, which included army personnel, and F.I.A. members of the Joint Investigation team searched and collected extensive records of the Companies in futile endeavor to find evidences of corrupt practices on the part of Irfan Puri. The thrust of inquiries and investigation related to foreign currency accounts and evasion of income tax. Irfan, maintained and explained that in view of the Tax Amnesty Scheme announced by the Chief Executive, General Pervaiz Musharaf, on December 15, 1998 and in view of the provisions contained in the protection of Economics Reforms Act 1992 there was no warrant or justification on the part of the Joint Investigation Team to investigate and enquire about his foreign currency accounts and income tax matters. In course of this investigation, it further appeared that Irfan, was detained due to a malicious complaint by one Mr. Mohammed Taufiq El Khattani motivated by enmity and greed for extracting money from his ex-employer, Saudi Pak LPG. Mr. Khattani was pressurizing him to use his business influence on Saudi Pak LPG to which he did not agree.

5. During his confinement at Malir Cantonment, he was kept in Solitary Confinement with effect from January 15, 2000 until he was shifted to the NAB police station situated at M.P.A. Hostel Karachi.

6. Due to extreme agony and distress caused by his detention, both mental and physical health of his wife was gravely affected and his wife suffered a miscarriage.

7. Time and Time again his wife NAVEEN PURI through her lawyers requested NAB through letters, fax etc to inform of the grounds of arrest and to allow clarification of any alleged Corruption of which he may have been accused. But NAB never informed the grounds and substance on the basis of which the he had been arrested. NAB had no valid ground for his arrest and detention.

8. On February 12, 2000 the he was shifted to Nab Police Station at M.P.A. Hostel Karachi where he was kept in Solitary Confinement without any facilities. He was not allowed to meet anyone and was neither provided with proper food or medical facilities despite requests, which were of utmost importance as he is suffering from heart problem since his childhood. Here too he was extensively interrogated and was threatened that his family members would also be arrested if he would not agree with them.

9. ON February 27, 2000, Irfan was flown to Islamabad and was then taken to Attock Fort. There he was confined in a solitary cell, measuring about 4 feet x 7 feet with 18 feet high walls. There was a yellow zero watt bulb on top of an extensively high ceiling and a flat sheet steel door. Light was such that he could not even read the Quran. he went through a series of interrogations at all hours of the day and night. As a form of torture he was forced to keep his hands above his head for hours and was manhandled, pushed/thrown from one to another with a sack covering his head, was subjected to the worst verbal, physical, mental torture. He was threatened with dire consequences, including risk to his life and his family members. Sleep deprivation methods were used upon him. He would be taken out of the cell at odd hours and his head covered with a black sack/hood and a band tied over the hood around his eyes and army men holding him by his arms for interrogation purpose dragging him to another room where he would be interrogated for hours on end. Time and time again he would be asked what his family members were willing to pay to save his life. They would threaten him that if he would not pay up his family members would also be arrested and brought to Attock Fort, the family received phone calls at odd times, also in the middle of the nights and by FIA/NAB officials giving threats, and calling for family members to visit the NAB office/FIA center.

10. After spending 14 days in this death cell without seeing light, Irfan was allowed to meet his farther and wife in light and in presence of army men, where his farther told him that the NAB officials have been making phone call to Irfan’s father asking him to come over to the NAB offices, that was the final breaking point where Irfan asked his dad to hold it for two days and that Irfan will try is best to settle one way or the other with NAB… if only one could imagine what this meant to Irfan…

11. Since his unlawful arrest he underwent extreme mental torture leading to a complete nervous breakdown and deterioration in his childhood heart condition. He lost more than 12 kg in weight.

12. He finally broke down under threat intimidation and coercion and it was in such a state that he agreed to make payment of sum of Rs. Three Hundred Million to the NAB.

13. After his verbal agreement at Attock Fort to arrange for payment of Rs. 300,000,000/-, he was brought to Karachi on PIA flight from Islamabad in handcuffs on March 11, 2000. The Plaintiff saw sunlight for the first time since he was brought to Attock Fort when he was taken out of his cell without any cloth covering his eyes.

14. At NAB Police Station in Karachi he was threatened, pressurized coerced to agree in writing to the payment of Rs. 300 million, of which Rs. 100 million had to be paid in advance before his release. He was told, “there is no law just pay up”.

15. The FIA and other staff of NAB started visiting the offices and house of Irfan from day to day and harassing the staff members and hindering work over-owing Irfan coming to the office. The offices were surrounded by FIA, NAB officials and military demanding the remaining payment and threatening for dire consequences otherwise. The abuse stretched a point where some senior staff point were not allowed to work and made to strip naked by removal of all clothes hence torture and harassment to unparalleled height.

16. He was also coerced to hand over property documents as “security” for payment of the remaining amount of Rs. 200,000,000/- (Rupees two hundred million). Hence, had to hand over original property documents over to NAB of five (5) properties which actually have an aggregate value of Rs. 400,000,000/- (Rupees Four Hundred Million)..

17. Even after all this, NAB did not release him, but kept him under house arrest / unlawful detention until June 14, 2000.

18. Whilst Irfan, was under house arrest two dozen Rangers were stationed around the clock in and around the house.

19. Irfan, ultimately released from house arrest on June 14, 2000 after 3 months. Total captivity being six months, had several meetings with General Amjad, and suggestions made by Irfan, resulted in savings of over a billion rupees in Oil imports.

20. General Syed Amjad made many promises/ commitments in the name of justice that money extracted from Irfan Puri would be returned to him. General Amjad appreciated and understood that grave injustice had been done, both in private and in presence of various individuals.

21. Irfan, in frustration filed a number of court cases against NAB, FIA, etc, giving the ordeal of the experience gone through, as a result, bogus Income tax/Wealth Tax demands have been issued by the department on the behest of NAB officials visiting the department forcing tax officers to issue demands.

22. Irfan, then also had meetings with general Khalid Maqbool the new Chairman of Nab for justice but regrettably no action was taken.

23. He also sought an appointment with Chief Executive General Pervaiz Musharraf, without success.

Irfan I Puri
8 Brendon Street,
London,
London
W1H 5HE
UK

Phone: +44 7976 420306
Email: ip@purigroup.com
Fax: +4420 7258

A True Story of a Businessman, in Pakistan…


Irfan Iqbal Puri, tortured to extract money, officials driven by greed of reward and appreciation. Irfan was subjected to a total six months of illegal arrest including two months of a 24 hours day solitary confinement, which also contains a 14 days period at the Attock Fort, in a 4ft x 7ft dark death cell, Irfan was not shown day light for the 14 days at the Attock, and was physically, mentally and verbally abused to the limit, perhaps treated as an Indian spy.

Irfan, was victimized for pure pleasure and greed,


1. A businessman of repute carrying on businesses among others as a member of the Karachi Stock Exchange, import of oil and acting as agent and distributor for the supply of oil, for the last fifteen years. The victim has been promoting and mobilizing investments in the oil infrastructure / finical markets Pakistan. The victim, his family members and friends invested and operated following, among other, businesses: (a) IP Securities (Private) Limited; (b) IP Terminal Limited; (c) IP Travels (Private) Limited (d) IP Marketing (Private) Limited; (e) National Finance & Investment Services Limited; (f) Oiltanking (Private) Limited and (g) Neo Vision (Private) Limited. Prior to his arrest on December 15, 1999, the victim was managing and / or consulting the affairs of the Said Companies. Hard work, integrity and acumen, the victim at an age of 37 had earned irreparable reputation for honesty and fair play in all his dealings, national as well as international.

2. NAB without making any good faith investigation or enquiry, which was obligatory on them, arrested Irfan, on December 15, 1999 from his office at Karachi,
(On the Jan 16, 2000, the victim was forced to sign some per-dated documents, at malir).

3. The arrest was not based on reasonable grounds. The victim was never informed of the grounds of his arrest. The and was detained at Malir Cantonment for about seven weeks until February 12, 2000, then was shifted and kept at National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Police Station at M.P.A. Hostel Karachi. On February 27, 2000, he was shifted to Attock Fort where he was confined until March 11, 2000 and on which date he was shifted back to Karachi.

4. At Malir Cantonment, he was interrogated several times by the Joint Investigation Team, which included army personnel, and F.I.A. members of the Joint Investigation team searched and collected extensive records of the Companies in futile endeavor to find evidences of corrupt practices on the part of Irfan Puri. The thrust of inquiries and investigation related to foreign currency accounts and evasion of income tax. Irfan, maintained and explained that in view of the Tax Amnesty Scheme announced by the Chief Executive, General Pervaiz Musharaf, on December 15, 1998 and in view of the provisions contained in the protection of Economics Reforms Act 1992 there was no warrant or justification on the part of the Joint Investigation Team to investigate and enquire about his foreign currency accounts and income tax matters. In course of this investigation, it further appeared that Irfan, was detained due to a malicious complaint by one Mr. Mohammed Taufiq El Khattani motivated by enmity and greed for extracting money from his ex-employer, Saudi Pak LPG. Mr. Khattani was pressurizing him to use his business influence on Saudi Pak LPG to which he did not agree.

5. During his confinement at Malir Cantonment, he was kept in Solitary Confinement with effect from January 15, 2000 until he was shifted to the NAB police station situated at M.P.A. Hostel Karachi.

6. Due to extreme agony and distress caused by his detention, both mental and physical health of his wife was gravely affected and his wife suffered a miscarriage.

7. Time and Time again his wife NAVEEN PURI through her lawyers requested NAB through letters, fax etc to inform of the grounds of arrest and to allow clarification of any alleged Corruption of which he may have been accused. But NAB never informed the grounds and substance on the basis of which the he had been arrested. NAB had no valid ground for his arrest and detention.

8. On February 12, 2000 the he was shifted to Nab Police Station at M.P.A. Hostel Karachi where he was kept in Solitary Confinement without any facilities. He was not allowed to meet anyone and was neither provided with proper food or medical facilities despite requests, which were of utmost importance as he is suffering from heart problem since his childhood. Here too he was extensively interrogated and was threatened that his family members would also be arrested if he would not agree with them.

9. ON February 27, 2000, Irfan was flown to Islamabad and was then taken to Attock Fort. There he was confined in a solitary cell, measuring about 4 feet x 7 feet with 18 feet high walls. There was a yellow zero watt bulb on top of an extensively high ceiling and a flat sheet steel door. Light was such that he could not even read the Quran. he went through a series of interrogations at all hours of the day and night. As a form of torture he was forced to keep his hands above his head for hours and was manhandled, pushed/thrown from one to another with a sack covering his head, was subjected to the worst verbal, physical, mental torture. He was threatened with dire consequences, including risk to his life and his family members. Sleep deprivation methods were used upon him. He would be taken out of the cell at odd hours and his head covered with a black sack/hood and a band tied over the hood around his eyes and army men holding him by his arms for interrogation purpose dragging him to another room where he would be interrogated for hours on end. Time and time again he would be asked what his family members were willing to pay to save his life. They would threaten him that if he would not pay up his family members would also be arrested and brought to Attock Fort, the family received phone calls at odd times, also in the middle of the nights and by FIA/NAB officials giving threats, and calling for family members to visit the NAB office/FIA center.

10. After spending 14 days in this death cell without seeing light, Irfan was allowed to meet his farther and wife in light and in presence of army men, where his farther told him that the NAB officials have been making phone call to Irfan’s father asking him to come over to the NAB offices, that was the final breaking point where Irfan asked his dad to hold it for two days and that Irfan will try is best to settle one way or the other with NAB… if only one could imagine what this meant to Irfan…

11. Since his unlawful arrest he underwent extreme mental torture leading to a complete nervous breakdown and deterioration in his childhood heart condition. He lost more than 12 kg in weight.

12. He finally broke down under threat intimidation and coercion and it was in such a state that he agreed to make payment of sum of Rs. Three Hundred Million to the NAB.

13. After his verbal agreement at Attock Fort to arrange for payment of Rs. 300,000,000/-, he was brought to Karachi on PIA flight from Islamabad in handcuffs on March 11, 2000. The Plaintiff saw sunlight for the first time since he was brought to Attock Fort when he was taken out of his cell without any cloth covering his eyes.

14. At NAB Police Station in Karachi he was threatened, pressurized coerced to agree in writing to the payment of Rs. 300 million, of which Rs. 100 million had to be paid in advance before his release. He was told, “there is no law just pay up”.

15. The FIA and other staff of NAB started visiting the offices and house of Irfan from day to day and harassing the staff members and hindering work over-owing Irfan coming to the office. The offices were surrounded by FIA, NAB officials and military demanding the remaining payment and threatening for dire consequences otherwise. The abuse stretched a point where some senior staff point were not allowed to work and made to strip naked by removal of all clothes hence torture and harassment to unparalleled height.

16. He was also coerced to hand over property documents as “security” for payment of the remaining amount of Rs. 200,000,000/- (Rupees two hundred million). Hence, had to hand over original property documents over to NAB of five (5) properties which actually have an aggregate value of Rs. 400,000,000/- (Rupees Four Hundred Million)..

17. Even after all this, NAB did not release him, but kept him under house arrest / unlawful detention until June 14, 2000.

18. Whilst Irfan, was under house arrest two dozen Rangers were stationed around the clock in and around the house.

19. Irfan, ultimately released from house arrest on June 14, 2000 after 3 months. Total captivity being six months, had several meetings with General Amjad, and suggestions made by Irfan, resulted in savings of over a billion rupees in Oil imports.

20. General Syed Amjad made many promises/ commitments in the name of justice that money extracted from Irfan Puri would be returned to him. General Amjad appreciated and understood that grave injustice had been done, both in private and in presence of various individuals.

21. Irfan, in frustration filed a number of court cases against NAB, FIA, etc, giving the ordeal of the experience gone through, as a result, bogus Income tax/Wealth Tax demands have been issued by the department on the behest of NAB officials visiting the department forcing tax officers to issue demands.

22. Irfan, then also had meetings with general Khalid Maqbool the new Chairman of Nab for justice but regrettably no action was taken.

23. He also sought an appointment with Chief Executive General Pervaiz Musharraf, without success.

Irfan I Puri
8 Brendon Street,
London,
London
W1H 5HE
UK

Phone: +44 7976 420306
Email: ip@purigroup.com
Fax: +4420 7258

Some information about the people who have, ``paid up`` so far; its the who`s who of Pakistan`s political parties.

``NAB recovered Rs 1.47 bn during 8-month drive

By Amir Mir

LAHORE: During its eight-month drive to recover the looted exchequer from politicians, businessmen and bureaucrats, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has so far recovered a total of Rs 1.47 billion in 17 different cases of corruption and bank default, with country`s top business tycoon, Nasim Saigol, contributing the major chunk of Rs 633.988 million.

The NAB`s recoveries data acquired by the News Bureau of Investigations (NBI) shows that since its inception in October 1999, the bureau headed by Lt-Gen Syed Mohammad Amjad has recovered Rs 923 million from bank defaulters while the total recoveries in corruption cases amount to Rs 524 million.

Loan recoveries` details show, Naseem Saigol was made to pay Rs 633.988 million to the National Bank of Pakistan ``for themselves and onward remittance to various financial institutions`` [through NAB in Kohinoor Industries` case]. The Bank of Khyber ranked second in loan payments by surrendering Rs 79 million. Former Ehtesab Bureau`s chairman and Nawaz Sharif`s right-hand man, Saifur Rehman`s Redco Textile Mills Ltd had to make a cash payment of Rs 76.557 million, directly to the United Bank Ltd.

Former Punjab governor Malik Ghulam Mustafa Khar`s younger brother, Malik Ghulam Murtaza Khar was made to pay Rs 72.416 million to Habib Bank Limited [through NAB] towards settlement of liabilities pending against Yahya Textile Mills Ltd.

Former president Farooq Leghari`s first cousin, Sardar Jaffar Khan Leghari paid Rs 30.393 million to the National Bank of Pakistan towards settlement of liabilities pending against Choti Textile Mills Ltd. Former Punjab minister Sardar Nasrullah Dareshak`s son Ali Raza Dareshak had to pay Rs 20.056 million to Habib Bank Limited towards settlement of liabilities against Indus Sugar Mills Ltd. Former principle adviser to Punjab chief minister Syed Faisal Saleh Hayat has so far paid Rs 8.673 million to United Bank Limited to clear the bank default of Shah Jewna Textile Mills Ltd. Nawaz Sharif`s first cousin and businessman Mian Javed Shafi had to pay Rs 2.107 million to the Muslim Commercial Bank towards settlement of liabilities against Ittefaq Sugar Mills Ltd.

As far as recoveries in corruption cases are concerned, Irfan Puri has so far paid Rs 300 million to NAB as the amount was embezzled from the Central Board of Revenue. Similarly, Rs 42 million were recovered from Sikandar Jatoi, as penalty on as well as the customs duty. Another Rs 25 million were recovered from Sikandar Jatoi`s Zeal Pak Cement. One Tass Jumani deposited Rs 21 million in the NAB account, embezzled from the Pakistan State Oil.

Former Punjab chief minister Manzoor Wattoo`s close associate, Javed Zia was made to surrender Rs 15 million - the amount embezzled in the sale of Beach Aircraft. Former federal labour minister Ghulam Akbar Lasi had to return to the government embezzled amount of Rs 12.402 million. Similarly, former CBR chairman Mian Iqbal Farid and ex-CM Mian Manzoor Wattoo contributed Rs 10 million each to the NAB account.

Rana Mumtaz Noon and M/S Consultronics paid Rs 3.500 million and Rs 1.000 million each - the embezzled amount. Former Balochistan chief minister Sardar Nadir Magsi returned Rs 3.000 million, embezzled under octroi contract.

Dr Tariq Ghori had to deposit Rs 1.530 million as penalty on unauthorised construction. Former Punjab chief minister Arif Nakai (late) voluntarily returned Rs 1.500 million, spent on his Umrah. Another Rs 8 million were recovered as PTCL recovery from Azhar Ahsan Khawar, Mohammad Abbas Khan, Syed Irfan and Abdul Hameed.

Urstruly RE: AI Reply# 36

The default business and the legal system have been faulted for the state of affairs and the same were cited in the World Bank Report at the onset of the crisis of the financial system that has certainly contributed to the abnormal high interest rates that outstepped the purported inflation rate by a few uncomfortable points. But I must insist on the fact that essentially it was the deficit that followed Mr. Bhutto`s free spending style that outpaced whatever ``we`` could extract from the outside. Again to reiterate the point GOP`s hemmoraging spending defence, public corporations and projects have been the basic cause of the interest rate hike. I doubt that the thesis that industrial default has caused this mess can withstand any restrospective simulation model. The projects set up, the default not withstanding have probably supported the balance of payments position. The finance minister, aside from admitting that GOP`s spending and borrowing estimates have been concocted and fudged did on television that admit that defense spending has gone up by 10%. He certainly looked depressed and shaken with the fait accompli. Recall Mahbub Haq`s Iqra $300 million mobilization for primary education that went down the same hatch. We still do not know where else the allocations are hiding even today after the IMF has come down so hard. So far as bad laws are concerned there is in all probability a law that carries the death sentence for criticizing the armed forces of Pakistan and debating the financial hemmorage relating to defence expenditure could be applied swiftly and ofcourse unfairly.

Regarding the almonds, walnuts and watermelons that are in the pipeline so far as external payments that are coming up: I really doubt if anything can happen unless NAB can cross the judicial and constitutional Lines of Control and get the likes of Ejazul Haq, Zardari, Mr. Sharif and all the retired Admirals and Generals to pay up in hard currency what they are holding outside. I am assuming that NAB`s investigators outside have by now come up with the figures etc.

The current guys in charge think that IT can bring in more than all the textile exports but to impliment all this is a different ball game. I was more interested in the prospects of pumping far greater sums in IT education and infrastructure than they have which is probably a miserly Rs 50 million (?). It is my absolute conviction that the 10 percent extra given to defense is at this stage of diminishing utility even in terms of security. I would have taken my chances with IT hoping that the funds could be absorbed and worth while results would emerge within the time window that the payments are falling due.

Reverting back to the commercial and industrial default the matter continues to be under resolution as I understand. People are returning monies and at the same time not borrowing leaving GOP to continue the binge. The powers that be have succeeded in sidetracking the issues and the bureaucracies, civil and military, have bought more time....

RE: AI Reply# 36

Although I agree with your perception of the situation yet I will still insist on my take that defaulters have caused banks to charge unaffordable ROIs. As a matter of fact we both are talking about the same thing but in a different way.. The contents of that World Bank report may be true in the perspective of GOP policies of early eighties but after mid-eighties the present day defaulters became the very government that already had a history of borrowing and deficit financing as you said. That opened a new arena in the Land of Opportunity called Pakistan for them. Now, on one hand they could ``borrow`` money from banks using their political influence and position and on the other hand they could embezzle money by using their position in the government. Their modus operandi is an open secret-create overpriced fake projects-leave the projects in the middle by showing that projects are unfeasible by over-invoicing –start a new project- Allah Allah Khair Salla. You are absolutely right that it was not possible without help from bureaucracy and corrupt bankers. As a matter of fact GOP was forced by these defaulters to borrow money from banks so that they could embezzle more.

RE: FHN Reply# 37

So is it safe to assume that an enforcer can misuse even a perfect law? It’s the enforcers and not the law to be blamed? I was never hopeful with NAB law or our new Martial Law or its efforts towards the ``TAX REFORMS``. To me, things make sense when you look at the whole thing in the perspective of our payment of the loan installment in December 2000 to IMF and many other payments that are due next year. What do you think? AI?

RE: AI Reply# 36

Although I agree with your perception of the situation yet I will still insist on my take that defaulters have caused banks to charge unaffordable ROIs. As a matter of fact we both are talking about the same thing but in a different way.. The contents of that World Bank report may be true in the perspective of GOP policies of early eighties but after mid-eighties the present day defaulters became the very government that already had a history of borrowing and deficit financing as you said. That opened a new arena in the Land of Opportunity called Pakistan for them. Now, on one hand they could ``borrow`` money from banks using their political influence and position and on the other hand they could embezzle money by using their position in the government. Their modus operandi is an open secret-create overpriced fake projects-leave the projects in the middle by showing that projects are unfeasible by over-invoicing –start a new project- Allah Allah Khair Salla. You are absolutely right that it was not possible without help from bureaucracy and corrupt bankers. As a matter of fact GOP was forced by these defaulters to borrow money from banks so that they could embezzle more.

RE: FHN Reply# 37

So is it safe to assume that an enforcer can misuse even a perfect law? It’s the enforcers and not the law to be blamed? I was never hopeful with NAB law or our new Martial Law or its efforts towards the ``TAX REFORMS``. To me, things make sense when you look at the whole thing in the perspective of our payment of the loan installment in December 2000 to IMF and many other payments that are due next year. What do you think? AI?

Dear AI #36

I am at a loss to understand your venom. For the record, I have never handled a case on behalf of any nationalised bank. In particular, I have never represented Habib Bank nor am I on their panel of lawyers. The only time I have ever represented any banking institution was on behalf of PILCORP about two years ago when I sued some gentleman for the return of approximately 3 lakh rupees for which I received the princely amount total of Rs. 16,500, which was then split three ways between me, my partner and my munshi. That amount was also declared as can be checked from the court files.

So far as saving the skins of certain bankers is concerned, my article has nothing to do with trying to prevent their investigation and/or trial. I have repeatedly stated that corruption of the sort indicated by you is undoubtedly criminal and should be punished.

My only point is that a loan default caused by purely business reasons is not a crime and should not be confused with genuine crimes. I also think that making all loan defaults into a crime will have a negative impact on economic growth in Pakistan as it will certainly discourage people from taking loans. None of that has anything to do with your concerns regarding the bank-wallahs.

It saddens me that you resort to such name-calling and to such insinuations. Your personal problems with Habib Bank may or may not be part of a wider problem, but they are certainly not relevant to the discussion at hand.

Urstruly # 35 and #34

What you are missing is the text of Ordinance IV of 2000 (dated 3.2.2000) which amended the NAB Ordinance, inter alia, by inserting Section 5(r).

I also disagree with you when you say that the NAB law leaves no room for absolute power. The Chairman NAB has the absolute ungovernable authority to pick up any person he likes and hold them in jail for 90 days while he “investigates” them. Quite often, this power is misused.

The best example of the misuse of NAB’s power is that of Siddiqul Farooq, the former chairman of the House Building Finance Corporation. After being picked up immediately after the coup, he simply disappeared. When his family filed a habeas, the prosecutor general stated in court that NAB did not have him. Another few months passed during which Siddiqul Farooq’s family finally managed to trace him to Malir Cantonment sub-jail and filed another habeas before the Supreme Court.

This time, the learned Prosecutor General appeared and admitted that yes, Mr. Siddiqul Farooq was in NAB custody and that he had been there for six months. His excuse was, that Siddiqul Farooq had been “forgotten after being dumped somewhere” to which the judges replied, thank Allah, he is alive. I am not making this up, that quote is taken directly from Dawn.

Undoubtedly, Siddiqul Farooq deserves no sympathy. But as a human being, he does have rights.

As you say, we can only hope for the best. But one cannot give blanket powers to people and then hope for the best. Powers must be subject to strict judicial control and must be defined. The NAB law either defines things too narrowly or leaves them open completely to the discretion of the Chairman NAB. There will be more horror stories tomorrow, not because he Chairman Nab is a bad person but because the law allows for discretion to be abused, and people will undoubtedly take advantage of that opportunity.

Urstruly: ``These defaulters have forced banks to lend money to legitimate businesses at outrageous rate of Interests``.

In regard to interest rates: The above statement is not quite correct. The rise of interest rates in Pakistan is clearly linked to increasing government borrowing from the banking system to finance its deficit. This was identified as far back as the early 1980`s in the world banks report on the financial system. That report never saw the light of day and we did not have anything close to a free press for the report to be publicly debated.

To attract funds GOP has built up a range of instruments like Prize Bonds, Khas Deposit Certificates and Defense Saving Certificates etc paying high rates specially for long term deposits. The banks had to compete with the National Savings Centres which is essentially GOP`s giant financial vacume cleaner. Also related was and has been the problem of cross cutting interest rates wherein a depositer was got a lower rate for a long term deposit in a bank than a short term one.

In the acrimonious debate that has followed after Musharraf stormed into the system the actual extent of the commercial default has been revised many times and apparently is not as significant as made out to be. GOP`s default is all sorts of ways appears to be far greater. The 12 odd billion dollars of foreign currency deposits forceably converted to Pak Rupees is major default. The public sector corporations chronic defaulting is another area. Take the case of the steel mill and the Railways: How do you think there are Pakistanis holding close to a $1 billion a piece. Most of them on the list being published in newspapers are bureaucrats, generals and politicians and no businessmen. This business of decomissioning NAB is part of the campaign to ``rafa dafa`` the matter of finding out where the beef is. These guys are frightened of NAB that it will lock them up, possibly put them on a revolving chair with no arms and a search light on top of it, and also hire international investigative agencies to track down the amounts and try to recover the monies by methods that would entail cutting the legal gordian knots.

In so far as the banking system is concerned there has been major extortion and bribery going on in settling cases of those who have defaulted. Those who have bribed bankers have had their cases quitely settled with major writeoffs and comfortable repayment packages. Companies and individuals who have protested or simply not liked or have been unable to find conduits (touts to be precise) have been declared wilful defaulters are earmarked for liquidation or worse. What we call ``the banks`` are really corrupt government agencies and appendages of the bureaucracy for all practical purposes. The foreign bank types that have been installed have turned out to be more corrupt and far more competent than the previous generation of bankers runnng the nationalised banks.

I am convinced that the critique of the arbitary nature of the NAB ordinance has not triggered FHN`s article but a contrived attempt to save the skins of certain bankers who been on the take. Some of the people hauled up before NAB decided to apprise NAB of this situation and NAB apparently has begun to smell a rat once the evidence began to pour in. NAB has, as I understand, also identified a large interlocking gang of bankers, and other ``professionals`` and touts who have been running a blackmail racket who have apparently made ungodly sums of money from companies and individuals in default. The litigation alone has apparently caused expenses exceeding Rs400 to 1000 million - (Try asking FHN how much income his firm or big ticket lawyers declared - I doubt it even adds up to the amounts they have declared in official court records as required by law). The income tax department has not even bothered to tabulate the amounts declared in courts to arrive at a ballpark figure.

RE: SAC & FHN Reply#33 and 31

I am in total agreement with both of you that (any) law can be manipulated or Saifur Rehmanized-but let me point out that it is not unique to Martial Laws-it has happened in ``heavily mandated`` democratic governments (Saif-ur-Rehman), in MLs (Bhutto case and various other)-and it has also happened with the ``Baray Abba Jaan of Jamhooriat`` a.k.a. United States.

Consider the United States Code Title 18 part 1, chapter 110, section 2256, “Sexual Exploitation and other Abuse of Children”. Anyone who has an access to Internet must have seen by now that how many child pornography sites are conducting their business as usual under “protection” of this law. Instead of protecting a child’s rights it is being used to violate them because law only defines sexual abuse as a contact to child’s genitalia in various manners including bestiality. So if you own or produce a naked picture of a twelve years old you are protected under above cited law.

So what do we do- In my opinion it is people like you, SAC, Fiesal, and a ``keyboardia`` like myself who can fight for the ``just`` justice. There is no other way because absolute power will always corrupt absolutely.

That said, I must also urge you to give the credit where it is due. In my humble opinion the current NAB law leaves very little room to exercise absolute power. On one hand it has teeth for big fish and on the other hand it is strict on enforcers or enforcer-in-chief for that matter. Allow me to quote some sections of this ordinance that (may) deal with enforcers.

Section 9.Corruption and corrupt practices :

(a) A holder of a public office, or any other person, is said to commit or to have committed the offence of corruption and corrupt practices-

(i) if he accepts or obtains from any person or offers any gratification directly or indirectly, other than legal remuneration, as a motive or reward such as is specified in section 161 of the Pakistan Penal Code (Act XLV of 1860) for doing or for-bearing to do any official act, or for showing or for-bearing to show, in exercise of his official functions, favour or dis-favour to any person, or for rendering or attempting to render any service or disservice to any person; or

(ii) if he accepts or obtains or offers any valuable thing without consideration, or for a consideration which he knows to be inadequate, from any person whom he knows to have been, or likely to be, concerned in any proceeding or business transacted or about to be transacted by him, or having any connection with his official functions or from any person whom he knows to be interested in or related to the person so concerned; or

There are five other sub-sections within this section(9) that define the similar corrupt practices that may be committed by ``A holder of a public office``- can it be ``enforcer-in-chief``? you decide.

Also consider Schedule of Offences Section 1(b) which says,

(b) Any person who aids, abets or through any willful act or omission is instrumental in the commission of the offence specified at Serial 1(a) above of this Schedule or with wrongful intent for illegal gratification by misuse of power, authority, influence, nepotism, favouritism writes off, waives, restructures or refinances illegally, improperly or without sufficient justification the principal amount of loan on any financial facility, interest or mark-up on any loan or financial facility provided to any person by any bank or financial institution shall have committed or be deemed to have committed the offence of corruption and/or corrupt practices.

Can we convict enforcer-in-chief with this if he goes astray the answer is yes. But the question remains that ``billi kay gallay main ghantee kaon bandhay gaa``. My answer to that question is, its SAC, Feisal, and me.

re urstruly #32:

Thanks for your explanation. I agree with your contention that ``willfull defaulters`` have caused hardhips for otherwise genuine borrowers.

I am still inclined to side with fhn regarding the arbitrary nature of this law. As he pointed out in the right hands maybe the law would not be misused however imagine the havoc the Saif-ur-Rehmans of this world can cause if they had this law in their armor. Imagine being a middle-class retired government official who has taken a loan for setting up a small business and due to some unavoidable circumstance cannot repay. The henchmen of the current ``enforcer-in-chief`` can blackmail the guy to unspeakable torture. There are good laws and bad laws. This, unfortunately is a bad law. However to be realistic I guess the morass Pakistan finds itself in today, one needs extraordinary measures to deal with extraordinary times.

later

-sac

later

-sac

RE: FHN Reply# 31

Dear Feisal!

I am more perplexed. I could not find 5(r) in the ordinance. Section 5 has subsections (a) to (q) but (r) is not there....

I am refering to:

National Accountability Ordinance, 1999

Islamabad, the 16th November, 1999

F.No. 2(1)/99-Pub

Ordinance No. XVIII of 1999

I am also refering to ammendment of November 18 in:

1. Ammendment in short title

2. Ammendment in section 3

3. Ammendment in section 35

4. Ammendment in section 35 (a)

I could not find ammendment as an addition of (r) in section 5.

Am I missing something?

I appologize for the comment that I made at the very end of my last post. I sincerely regreted it after I hit the SEND button.

Regards

RE: SAC Reply#30

Dear SAC,

You are being modest by underestimating your common sense. You have raised some very valid questions and concerns. I hope you wont mind if I answer them in reverse order-i.e. last thing first.

You said `` And I am sorry but I don`t get the connection between level playing fields and more regulation``; also refer to your preceding paragraph. If you re-read my post and the article you will see that we are talking in the context of bank loans and defaults. Therefore, my comments should be taken in that context. In other sense, which you imlied, I completely agree with you that ``red tape`` does repel the business.

You must understand that the banking system in Pakistan is suffering due to lawlessness and week regulations on lending and dealing with defaulted loans. These defaulters have forced banks to lend money to legitimate businesses at outrageous rate of Interests. If I am a ``willful defaulter`` and I know that I will get away with it, it wont matter to me if bank charges 20% ROI or 49% (Nigeria?) because I am not paying it back. Whereas a legitimate business suffers in two ways- 1) it cannot repay 2) the legitimate business will also try to find a way to falsify a default and a vicious circle starts.

Due to these outrageous rates small business or manufacturing concerns, or workshops that form the backbone of an infrastructure do not dare to borrow money. So the small business owners,like, Noora, Gaama, and Sheeda are condemned to stay a small business forever. Do you know how many Fatimas, Nazeerans, and Parweens are out there who spend their life sewing dresses for Libas International and other big concerns, can not even dream of having their own businesses – All because of these leeches, vultures, and blood-suckers aka ``willful defaulters``. I think these leeches are getting off too easy with this NAB thing, anything less than a gloutine is equivalent to justice denied.

I hope I have made myself clear on what I meant by a ``level playing field``.

The second point you raised was about the definition of ``willful default``. I completely agree with you in principle that unless an offence is defined you cannot punish someone. Though I am strictly against Government of Pakistan running its business with Ordinances yet we have no other choice but to live with it for a while. Whenever, an ordinance is issued (or a lagislation passed), it is usually followed by a string of SROs (Statutory Regulatory Orders) and DO (Daily Orders). It is the job of concerned ministry to issue SROs that are an interpretation and translation of an Ordinance (or legislation). In this case, State Bank of Pakistan may have issued a number of SROs to enforce NAB laws. This is one aspect that may work for both prosecution and defence.

The other aspect is that, it is a common situation in law that certain terms are found undefined (not deliberately). In that case judges do the interpretation for the proceedings of the court. It is done in an orderly manner – e.g. precedence is checked, i.e if a similar situation is outlined in a similar law. The defense may contest the judges on the interpretation and it does impede the process until an agreement is reached. Most of the time this lack of definition works for the defense. Although author has pointed out this ``deficiency`` in NAB ordinance yet in seven months we have not come across a single case (to the best of my knowledge) where this ``deficiency`` is used by defense or it is contested by defense. There is no case known to me where prosecution or judges have misused this----- because it is ``covered`` (not defined) in various clauses of NAB ordinance and Anti-corruption act.

You must have noticed that I am again eluding a direct answer. This is because I asked the same questions to Feisal first and I like to see his version first.

Best Regards

Dear Urstruly (# 29)

I regret to say that you have misunderstood my point completely. My point was not that there is no definition of the term “willful default.” As per Section 5(r) of the NAB Ordinance, willful default is defined as follows:

A person is said to commit an offence of willful default under this Ordinance if he does not pay or return the amount to any bank . . . on the date that it became due . . . and a period of thirty days has expired thereafter.

Provided that it is not willful default under this Ordinance under this Ordinance if the accused was unable to pay, return or repay the amount as aforesaid on account of any willful breach of agreement or obligation or failure to perform statutory duty on the part of any bank . . . .

In short, the problem is not that there is no definition of willful default in the Ordinance but that the definition provided is so rigid. Willful default in Pakistan is like statutory rape in the US. In the US, it does not matter why you have had sex with a 15 year old girl. No matter how sophisticated she looked, no matter how drunk you were, the law presumes you to have knowledge of her being underage. Similarly, with the NAB Ordinance, the law presumes that all businessmen who have not returned their loans within 30 days of their being due have done so for dishonest or criminal reasons, and that presumption cannot be rebutted by showing that your business failed for commercial reasons etc. The only way you can rebut the presumption of criminality is to show that your creditor bank breached your lending agreement, which while a favourite argument in Pakistan, basically never works.

You mentioned the plea bargain aspect of the NAB Ordinance favourably, but there are two major problems with it. First of all, you have to admit your guilt first and then beg for mercy. My argument is that pure default should not be a crime in the first place. Secondly, plea bargains are always decided by a judge. Under the NAB Ordinance, the Chairman NAB is a judge, jury and executioner all in one. And while General Amjad is a famously honest man, this law will still be there tomorrow when we are back to business as usual and people like Saifur Rehman are in charge. Would you trust Saifur Rehman with the powers that General Amjad has been given? I don’t think so.

So far as my practice is concerned, I have no problems with the NAB Ordinance. My problems with the NAB Ordinance are as a citizen.

re urstruly #21:

I`ll let fhn explain his side of things but a couple of quick things I wanted to point out.

The basic premise of any kind of law that strives to punish someone is to define in explicit terms what the alleged offense entails. For instance you cannot convict someone of theft unless you define exactly what theft is. In the same way before punishing someone for ``willful default`` one needs to define ``willful default``. Since you seem to have read the ordinance thoroughly can you please supply the definition? As you`ve alluded the definition may exist in the anti-corruption act, is it possible that such a definition actually allows more room for lawyers to defend their client than you imagine?

You say:

``I think most of the contributors on Chowk and anyone with a reasonable amount of common sense will agree that stricter banking regulations are conducive to attract more business, and not to repel as you claim, because it gives everybody a level playing field.``

As someone with less than a reasonable amount of common sense I beg to differ. Stricter banking regulations discourages the circulation not only of ``bad`` captial but ``good`` capital also. Most banking regulations in third world countries were adapted from the banking regulations prevalent in first world countries verbatim at the time of their independence and since then have not kept pace with changes in the global marketplace. Whereas the industrialized world learning from experience has done away with most of those stringent regulations countries like Pakistan are doing the exact opposite. In theory one can build a neat framework where a central regulating authority can control capital flows.Unfortunately the unbridled nature of global capital markets makes it impossible. Hence the practice of ``hundi``. A country that is forced to replenish its forex reserves by buying dollars in the black market needs to have its central bank abolished not strengthened.

And I am sorry but I don`t get the connection between level playing fields and more regulation.

later

-sac