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

A high court in the United Kingdom has issued an order for the transfer of $28.7 million (PKR 4.5 billion) from the accounts of the Pakistan High Commission in London to the foreign asset recovery firm Broadsheet LLC.

According to the local media, the transfer of funds is being done as a result of non-payment of a penalty by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to Broadsheet.

As per details, the London High Court’s Financial Division had issued a Final Third Party Order for payment to Broadsheet, the firm that NAB hired during Pervez Musharraf’s presidential tenure to trace assets n the UK and USA of more than 200 Pakistani individuals, including generals, politicians, and businessmen. Benazir Bhutto, Asif Ali Zardari, and Nawaz Sharif were the prime targets of this investigation.

The firm failed to recover a single asset of any of the aforementioned targets anywhere in the world. However, it pursued legal action against NAB over a broken contract as the anti-graft firm ended its contract over a violation of the terms and conditions.

The company filed a claim with the London High Court to enforce the payment of the outstanding sum of $22 million that was owed to it by NAB as a result of procuring its services.

Last year, a claim filed with the high court showed that the company has applied for permission to enforce the London court’s judgement that the company should be paid $22m by the government of Pakistan. Broadsheet had also asked for an interest of $4,758 per day to be applied.