ISLAMABAD: A court decision in London which came in favour of Pakistan has been challenged by Progas Pakistan shareholders.
Progas Pakistan which is an integrated liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) company took the decision to challenge the court decision considering a National Accountability Bureau (NAB) report over purchasing of its assets by Pakistani government, reported Express Tribune.
In 2016, Pakistan had won a case against UK shareholder of Progas Pakistan in International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), in which bilateral investment treaty got invoked and claim of $573 million filed by Progas shareholders.
NAB’s investigation provided an opening for Progas Pakistan shareholders to challenge the arbitrary award in ICSID case in Pakistan’s favour, as new things have been unearthed over the acquisition of the company assets by the government via Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC).
The company had established a terminal in 2004 and closed in 2008. Due to Progas business failure, it filed two claims against Pakistan’s government in London, saying it was responsible for it shutting down.
Over $503 million claims were filed by Progas and the company claimed Pakistani authorities had intervened in LPG price movements from 2004 to 2008, which made their business unprofitable.
Due to closure of Progas, banks sold their assets in 2011 and Pakistani government instructed SSGC to acquire them. The legal proceedings in this case saw ex-Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz and ex-Petroleum minister during Musharraf’s tenure appeared on the witness podium including officials of SSGC, OGRA and Port Qasim Authority before the dispute settlement court.
The case was dismissed after three years of hearings by ICSID and ordered Progas to pay the Pakistan government $12 million as legal expenses. NAB Karachi in 2013 initiated a probe into behavior of SSGC officials involved in acquisition of Progas terminal at Port Qasim in a sell-off carried out by Sindh High Court (SHC).
The investigation was closed after a few years on suggestion of NAB Karachi but in May 2016 NAB Islamabad ordered to reopen probe into this case after claims surfaced new information had come up regarding ex-SSGC Azim Iqbal Siddiqui.
A government official warned if ICSID overturns the original decision, this would make Pakistan liable to pay over $1 billion in liabilities, it would be because of sheer incompetence and negligence on part of those institutions.
