SHC dismisses Ali Jahangir Siddiqui’s petition on NAB inquiry

F.P. Report

KARACHI: Sindh High Court (SHC) has rejected a petition filed by former Pakistani ambassador in United States Ali Jahangir Siddiqui, against transfer of NAB inquiry against him to Lahore, on Friday.

According to details, a bench of SHC allowed the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to continue its inquiry against Siddiqui and directed the petitioner to cooperate with the bureau.

The court also granted eight days’ to petitioner to get protective bail and directed him to go to the concerned court for bail.

During the last hearing, the counsel of the Siddiqui, said that the NAB have no jurisdiction to investigate any issue related to stocks.

The NAB counsel contended that the accused inflicted a loss of Rs40 billion to government entities by selling shares on inflated rates. He sold shares through Azgard Nine company, the NAB lawyer argued.

Mr Siddiqi was earlier, summoned by the accountability watchdog to defend the alleged role of his company M/s Azgard Nine Limited (ANL) in the manipulation of shares that caused billions of rupees losses to the national exchequer.

NAB was probing affairs of the company with regard to siphoning off funds amounting to 23.7 million euros in 2008, which were used to purchase an Italian Company, Monte Bello SRL.

The NAB said the shares of a company named Agritech Limited were sold to various financial and government institutions at an inflated rate than the market to settle loan defaults. This resulted in a loss of Rs40 billion to a number of financial and government institutions.