LAHORE: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Friday summoned on March 22 the newly appointed Pakistan’s Ambassador to the United States (US) Ali Jahangir Siddiqui for a probe into an embezzlement allegation.
According to NAB, Siddiqui has been accused of causing losses worth Rs 40 billion to various financial and government institutions and will be questioned by a Combined Investigation Team (CIT) during his appearance before NAB.
The NAB investigators will interrogate Siddiqui, as director of investment firm Azgard Nine Ltd, about selling shares of another company named Agritech Ltd to numerous financial and government institutions by Azgard Nine at higher prices than market price to settle the loan defaults of the company.
Earlier on March 8, Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi approved the appointment of Ali Jahangir Siddiqui, son of prominent businessman Jahangir Siddiqui, as Pakistan’s Ambassador to the United States.
Ali has been serving Abbasi as a special assistant, advising the prime minister on economic and business matters.
Siddiqui is chairman of JS Bank Ltd and son of stockbroker-turned-banker Jahangir Siddiqui. He has previously been a director in Airblue — which is also connected to the prime minister’s family — Lucky Cement, Azgard Nine, and numerous other companies. In 2014, he was honoured as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum.
He will replace Aizaz Chaudhry in Washington, a career diplomat who previously served as a foreign secretary before being appointed the ambassador to the US.
Similarly, a petition has also been filed in the Lahore High Court which contends that the appointee doesn’t have the prerequisite experience to serve as an ambassador to the US, hence the court should immediately declare Siddiqui’s appointment as null and void.
The petition also states that the appointment has been made without consulting the federal cabinet.
