Pak assets abroad could be seized in corruption cases: Journalist warns Islamabad of incoming 'meltdown'

Islamabad [Pakistan], January 23 : Amid the controversy surrounding the Broadsheet saga, a Pakistani journalist has warned people in Islamabad who are unnerved by the corruption of civil-military bureaucrats, saying that Pakistan's assets abroad could be seized in other graft cases, including one involving Roosevelt Hotel in New York.
Writing for The Friday Times, Najam Sethi said that Islamabad must get ready for a "meltdown" when Pakistani assets abroad are sized including the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) owned Roosevelt Hotel, which is embroiled in Reko Diq case.
Sethi said that the Manhattan-based hotel has been awarded nearly USD 7 billion in damages for breach of contract.
"If we are alarmed by the level of incompetence and corruption of civil-military bureaucrats and lawyers in the Broadsheet case, get ready for a meltdown when Pakistani assets abroad, including the Roosevelt hotel owned by PIA, are seized and encashed by Tethyan Copper Company in the Reko Diq case which has been awarded nearly USD7 billion in damages for breach of contract," Sethi wrote in an opinion piece for The Friday Times.
This remark comes as Islamabad is considering injecting USD 35.58 million as a second bailout package for the Roosevelt Hotel, Dawn reported citing a hotel industry magazine.
According to the report, Pakistan's Economic Coordination Committee of the cabinet had discussed setting up a panel to provide this bailout package for the property.
Dawn reported that in September last year, the panel approved USD 142 million to cater to the immediate financial needs of the hotel. This sum was arranged as a loan from the National Bank of Pakistan. Moreover, it approved USD 13 million as an annual carrying cost.
The Broadsheet LLC case details the entire saga from the NAB's establishment to the signing and -- three years later -- rescinding the agreement with Broadsheet, a breach of contract, illegal payments from Pakistan to wrong entities; and all that led the court to ascertain that the anti-corruption body was involved in intentional wrongdoings, reported The News International.
The Broadsheet LLC, based in the Isle of Man, was hired by the NAB during Musharraf's regime to trace out hidden assets of Pakistanis in foreign countries. NAB signed an agreement with the Broadsheet but terminated it in 2003.
Former prime minister and senior Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Shahid Khaqan Abbasi on Friday said that the sooner Pakistan decides to do away with the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), the better, reported Geo News.
Referring to the Broadsheet LLC scandal and criticising the country's accountability watchdog for the "corruption therein" Abbasi said that the sooner the state decides to abolish the bureau, the better it would be for the country.
The accountability watchdog (NAB) has been mired in controversy over violation of human rights, character assassination, and arresting people at the inquiry stage to weaken the opposition's anti-government movement.