ISLAMABAD: Auditors have found irregularities in hiring of a British law firm for collecting evidence against MQM’s exiled leader Altaf Hussain in the Dr Imran Farooq murder case, which resulted in a Rs24.43 million loss to the exchequer.

This was revealed by the Auditor General of Pakistan in a report tabled during a meeting of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on Thursday.

During the meeting, PAC member Senator Mushahid Hussain Sayed asked the interior ministry to explain the purpose for which the law firm was hired.

Interior secretary Yousaf Naseem Khokhar said the British law firm was hired in connection with the Dr Imran Farooq murder case in which Altaf Hussain was a suspect.

He said the law firm was required to collect certain record and coordinate with the British authorities in the matter.

British law firm M/s Guernica 37 International Justice Chambers, United Kingdom, was one of the sources of the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) which also probed the money trail of the properties of the Sharif family pursuant to the judgement of the Supreme Court in the Panama Papers case.

PAC informed process caused Rs24.4m loss to exchequer

As per the audit report submitted to the PAC, under the guidelines laid down by the law ministry on June 3, 2015 “every government department or semi-government or public corporate body shall seek concurrence of the law, justice and human rights division for engagement of lawyer where professional fee exceeds Rs0.3 million”.

The report, however, highlighted that the ministry of interior vide sanction no 3/163/2016-Law dated March 3, 2019 made a payment of Rs24.4m to M/s Guernica International Justice Chamber, United Kingdom, on account of legal fee and travelling charges.

The auditors pointed out that “the expenditure of Rs24.4 million was incurred without concurrence of the ministry of law and justice. The ministry of interior signed the agreement with the above law firm on February 01, 2018, which became retrospectively effective from October 30, 2017”.

The report added that original quotations and comparative statements were not produced to the AG office. The firm claimed UK pounds 4,530, equal to Rs0.83m, as cost of air tickets and travelling charges without even providing original air tickets and relevant documents.

The interior ministry on the other hand claimed that Rs24.4m was incurred in accordance with procurement rules and names of three different British law firms and their charges were obtained and law firm Guernica International with Barrister Toby Cadman was shortlisted as he possessed the requisite credentials.

The ministry further stated that the law and justice division was taken on board after seeking approval of Mr Cadman as a solicitor to present cases in the UK. Law and justice division recommended the same for seeking approval of the attorney general. Later on, the attorney general endorsed recommendations made by the law ministry.

The interior secretary informed the committee that the prime minister had approved a standard operating procedure (SOP) for regularisation of such amounts. He said that as the SOP was notified, a meeting was held under the chairmanship of the attorney general in the Supreme Court of Pakistan.

He said that the attorney general’s office and the law and justice division concurred recommendations of the ministry of interior regarding ex-post facto approval for the nomination of Mr Cadman as the solicitor.

According to the website of the law firm, “Guernica International Justice Chamber have been engaged by the Government of Pakistan to investigate a Pakistani group located in the United Kingdom... and to prepare an investigative report to file with the Metropolitan Police Counter Terrorism Command, Crown Prosecution Service of England and Wales, foreign law enforcement and prosecutorial authorities into a series of allegations including murder, enforced disappearance, extortion, money laundering and/or proceeds of crime, incitement to commit acts of violence and to engage in terrorist activities.”

Published in Dawn, December 26th, 2020