Owners of ARY TV Agrees to Become Party For Monetary Benefit

 

NBP Mafia Prove Mettle by Dictating Terms; ARY TV Anchor Set to Resign if Programme Not Released

By Tariq Khattak

The owners of ARY have reportedly agreed not to bring cases of massive corruption in the National Bank of Pakistan after assurance by the Bank and some leading businessmen that they will get a soft loan of Rs 100 million.

The bank has started preparations to transfer funds to the account of the owners of ARY TV at a Dubai bank.

It may be recalled that ARY’s anchor Dr. Danish on February 26th brought to lime light some corruption cases in the Bank including the issue of Dr. Mirza Ibrar Baig, alleged to be Indian spy.

He was called a security risk in the light of reports by civilian and military security agencies. Those defending the bank could not answer the questions raised by the anchor person.

During his TV programme “Sawal Ya hai” Dr. Danish also announced to run another programme on Feb 27th. That programme was recorded but was never released.

Sources in the bank say that Anwar Majeed and Riaz Laljee, both close friends of President Zardari, perused the owners of TV channel to stop telecasting anything against National Bank.

Dr. Danish is said to be very upset about the development and wants to resign. He says that he will join any group that will agree to run the programme regarding National Bank.

The situation also speaks of the strength of mafia ruling the roost in the National Bank of Pakistan. That mafia is minting billions bringing the institution down.

It may be mentioned that Baig is chief of HR in the bank and he has successfully foiled all inquiries against him by offering jobs to the relatives of investigating officers, insiders said.

He recently resigned from the bank but the administration didn’t accepted his resignation. Sources said that Chief Justice should take note of the situation and take apprioprate action.

Journalists’ unions should also raise voiceon the issue, they added.

It was earlier reported in the allvoices that Dr. Mirza Ibrar Baig, Senior Executive Vice President (SEVP) National Bank of Pakistan (NBP), has resigned following renewed investigations against him by different security agencies on serious charges levelled against him over the years.

Baig has been under the radar since years and alleged by the national security establishment for being an India spy. His suspicious activities continues despite being under probe that only helped the suspicions of agencies against him, insiders said.

Senior Executive Vice President Group Head Human Resource Management and Administration Group Mr. Baig, an Indian by birth, got Pakistani nationality by tempering with papers and bypassing law of the land.

He remained under investigations by various national security agencies since long. However, he managed to neutralise some probing officers by providing incentives that included appointments of relatives of those who were digging into his past, documents available with this scribe said.

Sources say that the accused may be charged soon for offences in the court of law.

The acting President NBP, Qamar Hussain, hasn’t accepted Baig’s resignation so far, insiders said. Influential Qamar got himself appointed against a specially created post in the bank while the SBP, failing test of being a good regulator repeatedly, decided to overlook many critical requirements.

The Ministry of Finance, that backed former President Ali Raza for over a decade, is still supporting him and providing all benefits to him. Many top officials of the ministry have their close relatives appointed in the NBP against lucrative posts. They have forced bank to sign deals with businesses run by their blood relatives.

Those is the power including Finance Minister Abdul Hafeez Sheikh are said to be avoiding appointment of a President on permanent basis in NBP as the present president would do anything to please them irrespective of what rules and regulations say.

This is the reason the Finance Minister has been avoiding appointment of a proper Board of Directors in the bank since March 2010. The current board consist of only three while regulations say that a board must comprise of five members, insiders said.

Thus, all the decisions of the NBP BoD stands illegal and open to litigation in the courts. Present government try to cheat masses with window dressing and has never opted for a fundamental change for improvement of dwindling economy, they added.

Corruption is a way of life for elite in Pakistan which has kept millions under the poverty line and send economy in the tailspin.

Sources said that Mr. Qamar is providing hefty loans to politicians and other influential including defaulters and those who got loans waived worth billions.

Those who are getting major share in the pie are all close to President of Pakistan Asif Ali Zardari. These include Islam uddin Sheikh, Riaz Laljee, Iqbal Z Ahmed and Anwar Majeed etc.

The questions remained to be answered in that why NBP is the only government owned commercial bank that will fund projects like the RPP’s that are owned by Iqbal Z. Ahmed and Anwar Majeed. It would happily extend loans to companies that give Mir Raza son of Ali Raza allocations of LPG without him having a LPG marketing company

All the projects that Mr. Zardari’s front men wanted funded was being done by Mr. Syed Ali Raza former President and brother Syed Salim Raza, former governor SBP and involved in money laundering scam.

Not in distant past, Majeed and Zardari decided to expand their business empire and Ali Raza even went to extent of cancelling the loans for Dewan Groups sugar and cement mills to enable the Anwar-Zardari team to buy these assets at throwaway prices.

Supreme Court and Public Accounts Committee need to realise that NBP is a premier bank which has been bailing out many businesses and institutions facing financial difficulties. What if it fails due to unabated corruption of crooked bankers and their political masters?