pakistan 
ISLAMABAD: The commission investigating the Broadsheet scandal, on Thursday, released its findings that were instantaneously made public by the federal cabinet.
Headed by Justice (retired) Azmat Saeed Sheikh, the report maintains that all institutions except NAB have resisted the investigation and extended no support.
The commission says that Broadsheet’s records have been missing from “almost everywhere”, including the Pakistan High Commission in London.
The inquiry report states that Justice Azmat Saeed did not find it necessary to record Broadsheet CEO Kaveh Moussavi and Tariq Fawad Malik’s statements.
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As per the report, the asset recovery deal with Broadsheet shows the government institutions’ failure to abide by international laws. It says that every attempt to “disappear records or hide them” was made by the bureaucracy, as many instances were “transcontinental”.
The report states that Moussavi, who leveled allegations against certain individuals but probing him did not come under the commission’s terms of reference.
It asked the government to probe the Broadsheet CEO’s allegations if it wished to. The report says that a settlement deal was struck with Broadsheet to pay it $2.2 million.
It also says that Gibraltar and Colorado, institutions that have no linkage with the real Broadsheet, are the ones with whom settlement deals were inked.
Former federal law minister and international law expert Ahmer Bilal Soofi contacted Jerry James, who was falsely believed to be the Broadsheet chairman when in reality he was from the Colorado firm.
It brings to light that $1.8 million were paid in two installments, in May 2008, to James in the presence of Abdul Basit who was positioned as Pakistan’s envoy in London at the time. An officer of the Pakistan High Commission Shahid Baig signed both cheques for payment. Chairman NAB, of that time, Naveed Ahsan was involved in making the settlement deal. He, in his statement to the commission, said that he was unaware that Soofi had made the deal with James.
