Pakistan absolved of paying $1.2b penalty to Karkey

by Tauqeer Abbas
342 views

Shafaqna Pakistan: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) led government achieved massive success when it resolved the $1.2 billion award against the country in the Karkey case, announced by International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) in August 2017.

The statement was made by Prime Minister Imran Khan on social media on Monday wherein it was stated that the PTI government with the help of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had amicably resolved the Karkey dispute and saved Pakistan’s $1.2 billion penalty imposed by ICSID.

The premier congratulated the government’s negotiating team for doing an excellent job.

It is learnt that Attorney General for Pakistan (AGP) Office played a key role in the settlement.

AGP Anwar Mansoor Khan told The Express Tribune that after intensive efforts of the government’s negotiating team, the settlement had been done between both the parties, adding that the formal agreement would be signed soon in Turkey.

He stated that other state institutions were also trying hard for an out-of-court settlement in other international disputes, where the country was facing huge penalties.

It has already been reported that President Erdogan himself offered to play his role in out-of-court settlement of the matter during his meeting with PM Imran Khan in New York.

Though there was no official confirmation about the development, it was learnt that Pakistan would not pay any amount to the Turkish company.

The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) would not prosecute the Turkish company’s directors, agents and employees involved in the rental power project (RPP) graft case.

Earlier, the anti-graft body was reluctant to withdraw cases against those individuals though it would have weakened the whole case against Pakistan. However, a senior NAB official said that the bureau agreed to withdraw cases in national interest.

Likewise, it had already been reported in media that Pakistani authorities got solid evidence of corruption against Turkish company in the rental power case.

The country’s premier agency Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) was credited for being able to get documentary evidence to establish trail of corruption. Likewise, Swiss and Lebanese authorities also cooperated with the investigation to get glaring evidences.

NAB also got confessional statements of former water and power secretary Shahid Rafi and two other officials in the same matter.

On August 22, 2017, ICSID made the award to Karkey after the company filed a case against the government of Pakistan for terminating its rental power project contract. The contract was terminated on the orders of the Supreme Court.

 

You may also like