Happy Media

Syed Irfan Raza Published in Dawn, May 29th, 2020 ISLAMABAD: The Nat­ional Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Thursday revie­wed progress in investigations into corruption allegedly committed by former prime ministers Nawaz Sha­rif and Shahid Khaqan Abb­asi, former president Asif Zardari and Leader of the Opposition in the Nat­ional Assembly Shahbaz Sha­rif, his sons and “cronies”. The matter was discussed at a meeting chaired by NAB chairman retired Justice Javed Iqbal at the bureau’s headquarters. “The meeting reviewed progress on the ongoing inquiries/investigations of mega corruption... of former prime minister Nawaz Sha­rif, former chief minister Shahbaz Sharif, Hamza Sha­hbaz, Salman Shahbaz, Has­san Nawaz, Hussain Nawaz, Ahad Cheema, Fawad Hassan Fawad, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, Ahsan Iqbal, Miftah Ismael, Imran ul Haq Sheikh and others,” said a press release issued by the anti-graft watchdog. The meeting also rev­iew­ed progress in the investigations into fake...

Hindustan Times Published By: Anonymous Anwar, who was an encounter specialist served as the Senior Superintendent of Police in Malir district of Pakistan’s Sindh province, and is accused of extrajudicial killings. The US has blacklisted Rao Anwar Ahmed Khan, a retired Pakistani police officer, for his involvement in serious human rights violations, the US Department of Treasury has said. Anwar, who was an encounter specialist served as the Senior Superintendent of Police in Malir district of Pakistan’s Sindh province, and is accused of extrajudicial killings. “During his tenure as the SSP in Malir, Anwar was reportedly responsible for staging numerous fake police encounters in which police killed individuals,” the department said on Tuesday. Anwar during his service was also responsible for extortion, land-grabbing, narcotics and murder. “Anwar staged over 190 police encounters in the Malir District that led to the deaths of over 400 people, many of which wer...

Economic Times July 16, 2019 Manu Pubby Swiss firm Pilatus, which has supplied the bulk of trainer aircraft currently in operation with the air force, has been banned for at least one year by the defence ministry, following the registration of formal cases by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) into charges that corrupt practices were used by the company to bag the Rs 2,800 crore deal in 2012. The ban, which strictly prohibits any business dealings with the Swiss firm, will mean that the air force needs to find alternate sources for spares and parts for the existing fleet of basic trainers that are used for the initial stage training of its pilots. The air force operates 75 of the Pilatus PC 7 Mk1 aircraft. “Business dealings with the firm will remain suspended for a period of one year for violation of article 6.6 of the PCIP (Pre Contract Integrity Pact) and ongoing investigation by CBI, Delhi Police, ED and Income Tax Department into corrupt practices, unfair means and...

The Tribune July 14, 2019 ISLAMABAD:  Prime Minister Imran Khan has issued orders for the formation of a commission to investigate and fix responsibility for the massive $6 billion penalty imposed on Pakistan by the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) in the Reko Diq case. The premier’s directives were communicated in a statement issued by the Attorney General for Pakistan (AGP) Office on Sunday. The statement is the first official response to the $5.976 billion penalty imposed on Pakistan by the ICSID. The ICSID penalty comes weeks after PM Imran secured a $6 billion bailout from the International Monetary Fund, amid devaluations of the rupee and soaring inflation. “The prime minister has directed formation of a commission to investigate into the reasons as to how Pakistan ended up in this predicament; who were responsible for making the country suffer such a loss and what are the lessons learnt, so that mistakes made are not repeated in t...

Scroll.In Rohan Venkataramakrishnan Dated March 23, 2019 Explainer: What you need to know about the alleged ‘Yeddy diaries’ A report in Caravan alleges that Income Tax officials have a copy of Karnataka politican BS Yeddyurappa’s diaries detailing massive payoffs to top BJP leaders. Explainer: What you need to know about the alleged ‘Yeddy diaries’ A report in the Caravan set off a political storm on Friday, with both the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party holding press conferences to trade charges. The story claimed that an Income Tax officer had written to Union Minister Arun Jaitley asking whether the department should investigate a diary that was allegedly kept by former Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yeddyurappa in which he detailed huge payoffs made to senior BJP leaders and others. Yeddyurappa has denied the allegations and claims that the diary was fabricated. The Congress, however, argued that there was enough information for an investigation t...

PTI, Feb 18, 2019 Former Union Ministers Yashwant Sinha and Arun Shourie as also activist lawyer Prashant Bhushan moved the Supreme Court Monday seeking initiation of perjury proceedings against central government officials for allegedly giving "false or misleading" information in a sealed cover in the high-profile Rafale case. The apex court on December 14 last year dismissed a clutch of PILs, including the one filed by Sinha, Shourie and Bhushan, saying that there was "no occasion to doubt" the decision-making process of the Centre in the procurement of 36 Rafale jets from France. The trio, which has filed the plea seeking review of the verdict, filed a fresh application under section 340 of the CrPC (Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) seeking perjury prosecution against the officials responsible for providing "false" and "misleading" information to the apex court in a sealed cover. The apex court had sought information from th...

A.S. Panneerselvan, FEBRUARY 18, 2019 A reader referred to my column, “Means and ends matter” (Sept. 22, 2014), and cited a tweet by the political commentator Abhijit Iyer-Mitra to question this paper’s investigation into the Rafale deal. My column was not only about what journalists report, but also about how they gather information. Mr. Iyer-Mitra’s provocative tweet was: “I have to register my STRONG PROTEST with @the_hindu. It’s one thing having an editorial line but cropping out photos to avoid inconvenient facts like here where @manoharparrikar clearly instructs the DS MoD to coordinate with PMO (courtesy @ANI) is BLATANTLY UNETHICAL.” As a staunch defender of the regime, Mr. Iyer-Mitra is free to arrive at his own conclusions from the given documents, but he cannot level charges against others without going through the documents in the public domain carefully. Jeff Jarvis, professor at Craig Newmark Journalism School, New York, wrote about journalists: “It is the sacre...

By: Bloomberg | Published: August 10, 2018 9:45 AM Accusations of tax evasion and police corruption, a kidnapper who was kidnapped, a fugitive politician, and billions in bitcoin lost. This is crypto-trading Gujarat-style. The ingredients are part of an investigation in Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s home state into allegations that investors poured cash into a bitcoin-based Ponzi scheme that could exceed the country’s largest banking scandal. The fallout extends as far as Texas and has embroiled a former lawmaker, tarnishing Modi’s ruling party months before an election. It began in February, when property developer Shailesh Bhatt charged into the Home Minister’s office in Modi’s home state of Gujarat, claiming he had been kidnapped by a group of policemen and told to pay 200 bitcoin, worth some $1.8 million at the time, for his release. He said he had nowhere else to go. The state’s elite Criminal Investigation Department was called in and the evidence it has unc...

Express News Service | New Delhi | Updated: August 9, 2018 2:36:45 am In a report placed in Parliament on Tuesday, the Comptroller & Auditor General (CAG) castigated the defence ministry and Navy for violating procedure in buying eight P-8I Poseidon Long Range Maritime Reconnaissance Anti-Submarine Warfare (LRMR-ASW) aircraft from US aircraft manufacturing firm, Boeing in 2009. The deal in 2009 was negotiated and signed by the UPA government. Interestingly, the current BJP government placed an order for four more P-8Is for the Navy in July 2016 under the same terms. Former Navy Chief, Admiral Arun Prakash (Retd) however criticised the CAG report, and told The Indian Express that “past experience has shown that overreach, combined with pedantic hair-splitting by the CAG without understanding the practical nuances of issues involved, has inflicted incalculable damage on our national security.” “The CAG, no doubt, has a vital function to perform as a constitutional a...

August 21, 2017 Santosh Singh-The Indian Express An investigation by The Indian Express shows that at the heart of the scam is Srijan founder Manorama Devi, who allegedly operated right under the government’s nose, sharing the stage with ministers and flaunting her links with senior bureaucrats, businessmen and politicians. FOUR years before the Bihar government finally ordered a probe into the Rs 700-crore Srijan scam, suspected to involve several high-ranking officials, a chartered accountant based in Godda, Jharkhand, had raised red flags about the money making its way into the accounts of the cooperative society. In emails he sent to the Bihar Chief Minister, Nitish Kumar, the state Cooperative Department, and to then Union finance minister, P Chidambaram, Sanjit Kumar asked how a government cheque of Rs 7.32 crore had been deposited with the Srijan Mahila Vikas Sahyog Samiti Limited, a Bhagalpur-based registered society, when it was neither authorised to function a...

August 21, 2017 Santosh Singh- The Indian Express Srijan Mahila Vikas Sahyog Samiti Limited, providing vocational training to women and selling pickles, allegedly pilfered funds from Bhagalpur district administration's various accounts for atleast half a dozen welfare schemes. Over 10 years and across two governments, of JD(U)-BJP and the RJD-JDU, one Bhagalpur NGO allegedly siphoned off an estimated Rs 700 crore of public funds. Nine FIRs and 12 arrests later, the Bihar government ordered a CBI probe Thursday. An investigation by The Indian Express of police records, bank statements and interviews with key officials reveals how the little-known NGO, Srijan Mahila Vikas Sahyog Samiti Limited, providing vocational training to women and selling pickles, allegedly pilfered funds from Bhagalpur district administration’s various accounts for at least half a dozen welfare schemes. All with the alleged connivance of government officials, bank employees and, of course, Sr...