KARACHI:The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Friday rejected a plea of former Pakistani ambassador in United States Ali Jahangir Siddiqui, against transfer of a National Accountability Bureau (NAB) inquiry against him to Lahore.
A bench of the SHC while hearing the petition filed by Siddiqui, allowed the NAB to carry on its investigation against Siddiqui. It also directed the petitioner to cooperate with the NAB.
The counsel of Siddiqui said that the NAB has no authority to probe any matter related to stocks.
The NAB counsel told the court that accused gave a loss of Rs40 billion to national exchequer by selling shares to government on inflated rates. ‘’Siddiqui sold these shares through Azgard Nine Company,’’ the NAB lawyer said.
The bench approved eight-day period to the petitioner for getting protective bail and directed him to go to the concerned court for bail.
However, former ambassador was summoned by the NAB to defend the alleged role of his company M/s Azgard Nine Limited (ANL) in the manipulation of shares’ rates.
The NAB said the shares of a company named Agritech Limited were sold to various financial and government institutions at inflated rate to settle loan defaults, which resulted in a loss of Rs40 billion to the national exchequer.