Federal govt prepares TORs for Broadsheet inquiry commission

Federal government has prepared the terms of references (TORs) for an investigation into the Broadsheet scandal by a one-member commission headed by former apex court judge Justice (retd) Azmat Saeed.

The TORs for the Broadsheet investigation commission would be approved by the federal cabinet through a summary circulation process.

According to the proposed TORs, the commission would be headed by Justice (retd) Azmat Saeed, who would look into the agreements with the three companies including Broadsheet.

The commission would look into agreements with IAR Ltd, Broadsheet and Trouvons LLC in 2000 and another agreement with Broadsheet and IAR Ltd in 2003.

The payments made to Broadsheet and IAR in 2008 would also come under scrutiny. It would see if the payments made were illegal and further identify the people who were part of the wrongful payment of US$1.5 million in 2008.

The TORs further said that the one-member body would look as to how cases were fought in the British courts and will determine elements who were found of committing negligence in the performance of their duties.

It would further review the cases closed previously owing to political reasons. The commission would be mandated to form committees comprising of officials and experts for help during investigations into the scandal.

Earlier on Tuesday, the federal cabinet had approved the formation of an inquiry commission to investigate the Broadsheet scandal after enhancing its powers as compared to the earlier formed inquiry commission.

The commission will re-investigate cases involving bigwigs, which were closed out of expediency, the sources said, adding cases of important personalities such as Rao Sikandar Iqbal and Aftab Ahmed Sherpao will be re-opened.