Moussavi questions Broadsheet Commission's decision to not approach him

LONDON: A commission of inquiry headed by Justice (R) Azmat Saeed Sheikh has completed its probe into the Broadsheet case but the Broadsheet LLC’s Kaveh Moussavi has questioned why the commission didn’t get in touch with him for his evidence to know full facts of the case before the people of Pakistan.

Speaking to this reporter, Kaveh Moussavi said he was a “little puzzled as to why the so-called Broadsheet Commission never contacted me. Justice must not only be done but also seen to be done, as this is the basic tenant of the law. I could have assisted the Broadsheet Commission if they were serious about establishing the full truth. 

"I am rather sceptical if there was any serious intent at all to begin with. The people of Pakistan deserve to know the full truth and that’s not possible unless my full story is heard and how Pakistan ended up picking up a bill of nearly US $70 million,” said Moussavi.

On Monday, Geo News reported that a 100-page inquiry report has been finalised and will be sent to the federal government sometime this week. Kaveh Moussavi said he would not travel to Pakistan but “happy to testify online” if called by the commission. 

He said he would have informed the commission or any authority that Pakistan still needs to “settle” the outstanding amount of over £1 million (Rs216 million) and sooner that’s done the better and London High Court has already frozen Pakistan’s accounts towards this amount.

Kaveh Moussavi said he initially believed that the Broadsheet Commission has been set up in good faith “but NAB was set up in good faith too but it ended up becoming an instrument of political witch-hunt. The cause for the Broadsheet Commission or any other body should have been to uphold the rule of law and not get involved in another cover up for political reasons. Where is justice if you don’t get to know full facts from the biggest stakeholder of the scandal?”

Commenting on the Broadsheet Commission report that a payment of US$1.5 million to Broadsheet is missing from the records and the whole record has been disappeared, Kaveh Moussavi said that it’s laughable because NAB first made this sham payment to Jerry James to cheat Pakistan, then denied it was a wrong payment and spent over $20 million in legal expenses pursuing that spurious argument.

“Whilst at the same time suing the James Estate for its return,” said the Broadsheet LLC owner. The Broadsheet LLC had been hired in 2000 by General (R) Pervez Musharraf’s government to help recover assets stashed by past Pakistani rulers abroad, with main focus on Nawaz Sharif and his family.

The commission was set up on January 29 this year to probe the Broadsheet case after London High Court froze Pakistan’s assets at the United Bank Limited’s London branch in favour of Broadsheet LLC and the bank made a payment of nearly $29 million to Kaveh Moussavi’s Broadsheet LLC at the end of December 2020 . It had formally launched its investigation on February 9, 2021, while the Opposition had refused to accept the commission headed by Justice (R) Saeed alleging that he was aligned with the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf government.

Originally published in The News