Asset recovery firm lays claim to Avenfield flats – Pakistan

The luxury property of the Sharif family in Avenfield, Mayfair, has become the basis of a new claim made by the asset recovery firm Broadsheet LLC, a company registered on the Isle of Man in the Musharraf era that helped the then-newly established government The National Office of Responsibility (NAB) tracks foreign assets purchased through alleged illegal wealth

Stuart Newberger, the Washington-based lead attorney for the international law firm representing Broadsheet, said Dawn who has filed a complaint with the London High Court on behalf of the company to enforce the payment of the $ 22 million outstanding owed to the company.

“I have no choice but to return to the High Court in London for the execution of the previous sentence. We are filing a claim about Sharifs property in Avenfield that a court in Pakistan ruled should be confiscated by the government. We look forward to getting an order this week, ”said Newberger, a partner at Crowel and Moring, a firm that advises multinational corporations on regulatory, litigation, corporate and research matters.

A copy of the claim filed with the superior court, which has been seen by Dawn, shows that the company has requested permission to enforce the London court ruling that the Pakistani government should pay $ 22 million. Broadsheet has also requested that an interest of $ 4,758 per day be applied.

Hired by NAB under Musharraf, the company is trying to enforce the payment of $ 22 million owed to it.

In December 2018, former judge of the English Court of Appeals Sir Anthony Evans QC, as sole arbitrator, issued a $ 22 million payment order to Broadsheet from the Pakistani government. In July of this year, the government appealed the arbitration, but was unsuccessful in its offer. The arbitrator determined that Pakistan and NAB had unfairly repudiated an asset recovery agreement with Broadsheet and ruled that the company is entitled to damages.

Owned by former Iranian scholar Kaveh Moussavi, born in Iran, Broadsheet is now under the supervision of a court-appointed liquidator who initially funded the arbitration and previously served a one-year prison sentence in England for contempt of a court in non-proceeding proceedings. related.

Broadsheet states that it was established to enter into an Asset Recovery Agreement dated June 20, 2000, and did so with the then president of Pakistan, through the president of the NAB, in order to recover funds and other assets taken fraudulently from the State and other institutions, including through corrupt practices, and held outside Pakistan. Broadsheet argues that it was created to be a company specialized in the recovery of assets and funds, and therefore promised to track, locate and transfer such items to the State.

The fact sheet was completed in 2003 by NAB, but says he learned that the liability agency reached an agreement with the Sharifs that allowed them to live in self-exile in Saudi Arabia, and filed a claim on the agreement.

Gen Musharraf sought the company's services to hunt overseas property owned by Sharifs and other government officials. Newberger said the Sharifs were the "main objective" of Broadsheet's research. "Based on public requests made by the government now [of Pakistan] to the British authorities to hand them over to Avenfield, we are going to file a claim on these assets. "He also warned that it would bring government default for the payment of fees ordered by the court to" influence the International Monetary Fund when evaluating the value of Pakistan creditworthiness for loans. "

The Avenfield properties are four stories in one of London's most expensive districts, which belong to the Sharifs. The judge of the Court of Auditors, Mohammad Bashir, in 2018 handed over to the overthrown prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, 10 years as a prison for possessing assets beyond known income and one year for not cooperating with NAB. Nawaz Sharif's family was accused of owning apartments worth approximately 8 million pounds through illegal sources. The court also ordered the authorities to confiscate Mayfair's properties.

However, the family maintains that the property belongs to the children of Sharif, Hassan and Hussain Nawaz. The Sharif contested the verdict in the High Court of Islamabad and a two-member bank suspended its sentences until the final verdict was announced in the appeal. Nawaz Sharif is currently serving his sentence in the Al Azizia case at the Kot Lakhpat prison in Lahore.

In response to Broadsheet's decision to claim Avenfield's properties, Attorney General Anwar Mansoor Khan said Dawn: “The properties of Avenfield at this time are under the name of the person who owns them. Until they are in the possession of the government, the company [Broadsheet] I can't claim them. "

Khan added that the government "will respond in due time" and said the delay is due to Broadsheet claiming much more than the $ 22 million demanded by the court. Broadsheet also requires that the Pakistani government pay an additional $ 11 million for the costs of arbitration, a sum that Khan said is not something that has been decreed.

Pakistan's Tehreek-i-Insaf government has said on several occasions that it will initiate procedures with the British authorities to confiscate Avenfield's floors. The Prime Minister's responsibility advisor, Shahzad Akbar, said last year that the UK Central Authority, which deals with Mutual Legal Assistance requests, is waiting for more information after Pakistan asked them to enforce the judgment of the liability court.

Hussain Nawaz described Broven's new claim on Avenfield as "strange and unfounded" and said no international court will rule on such matter if they know that all legal remedies in the case have not been exhausted. He also said the properties are worth much less than $ 22 million.

Hussain also said that Broadsheet was a "dubious" offshore company created on the Isle of Man at a time when the government could have hired any reputable research company in the United Kingdom.

"You are welcome to take it [the matter] to the courts in the United Kingdom, since any judge of a higher court will dismiss it. There is no "judge Arshad Malik" here. The truth will prevail.

Posted on Dawn, October 2, 2019