British court orders Pakistan to pay $28.7 million to UK firm

The Government of Pakistan has made a payment of $28.706 million (Rs4.59 billion) to the British firm Broadsheet LLC after losing the long-running litigation at the London High Court.

The payment was made by Pakistan High Commission (PHC) on behalf of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to the assets recovery firm — 17 years after it was hired to trace alleged foreign assets of dozens of Pakistanis which it failed to find any.

The Broadsheet LLC was hired by NAB during Musharraf’s regime to trace hidden assets of 200 Pakistanis, including former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and former president Asif Zardari in foreign countries. NAB terminated its agreement with Broadsheet in 2003. The firm’s claim against Pakistan was worth at least $600 million.

On December 17 the London High Court’s Financial Division had issued a Final Third Party Order for payment to NAB’s former client Broadsheet by December 30 bringing to end a case that has cost Pakistani taxpayers billions of rupees.

The sources said that around Rs4.5 billion ($26,153,783.34) NAB amount was lying in the UBL, London account, which is operated in the name of Pakistan High Commission in the UK.

(With inputs from agencies)