Pakistan initiates probe against former Army General for ‘theft and illegal sale’ of crude oil

Pakistan’s anti-corruption agency has initiated proceedings against retired four-star General Ahsan Saleem Hayat and others for allegedly running an illegal crude oil business.

Pakistan’s anti-corruption watchdog the NAB has initiated proceedings against retired four-star General Ahsan Saleem Hayat and senior officials of a logistics organisation after an ex-Army officer accused them of running an illegal crude oil business that caused a loss of Rs 20 million per day to the national exchequer.

According to documents attached with the petition, 17 individuals, including two lieutenant colonels, three majors, six soldiers of varying ranks and four civilians were among those found guilty of embezzling oil and dismissed by the military authorities on January 26, 2005 for running an “illegal crude oil business”.

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Ex-Major Akram Raza had in 2015 filed a petition before the Lahore High Court (LHC), claiming that a number of military officers had been dismissed from the service for running an illegal crude oil business that caused a loss of Rs 20 million per day to the national exchequer.

Pleading not guilty, Raza claimed that he was not part of the group of individuals who were dismissed, but the one who had actually pointed out the “theft and illegal sale” of crude oil and was arrested and detained for no reason.

In his petition, he said that he got an FIR registered against the people involved in the scam, but the National Logistics Cell (NLC) administration kept on pressuring him to “cooperate with the crude oil mafia and on refusal was threatened (with) dire consequences”.

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