SHC acquits ex-NBP chief in Rs54bn loan scam case

KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Monday acquitted former National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) president Syed Ahmed Iqbal Ashraf in the Rs54 billion Hascol loan scam case, observing that nearly all other accused persons had been exonerated, acquitted or converted into witnesses.

A two-judge bench, headed by Jus­ti­­ce Omar Sial, observed several senior NBP officials, originally boo­ked on ide­ntical allegations, had been converted from accused persons into witnesses.

The FIA had booked and charge-sheeted more than 20 officials of NBP, Hascol Petroleum Company Limited and Vitol over allegations that the bank had extended imprudent financing fa­­cilities to Hascol between 2015 and 2020, allegedly causing losses of Rs54bn.

Mr Ashraf had approached the SHC after a special banking court dismissed his acquittal plea in April 2025. After hearing arguments from both sides and examining the record, the SHC allowed the application and acquitted him.

Nearly all other accused exonerated, acquitted or converted into witnesses, court observes

According to the court order, Vitol Dubai Limited acquired a 25 per cent stake in Hascol in 2016 by purchasing shares from Mumtaz Hasan Khan, Saleem Butt and Liaquat Ali. At the time of the transaction, Salman Butt was serving as Hascol’s CEO. Hascol was incorporated in 2001 as a private limited company by Mumtaz Hasan and was later converted into a public company in 2007.

The FIA alleged the bank during Ashraf’s tenure as its president from 2014 to 2016 had extended financing facilities amounting to Rs5bn to Hascol. Later from 2017 to 2019, when Saeed Ahmed Khan served as NBP president, the bank’s exposure to Has­col allegedly increased to Rs15.65bn.

The SHC noted that the FIA accused both former NBP presidents and Has­col’s board members of collusively and intentionally causing losses to the bank, while the FIA had also named NBP officials Rima Ather and Syed Irtiza Kazmi, along with other bank officers, as accused in the charge-sheet, alleging their active involvement in the financial scam. Saleem Butt and Ali Ansari from Hascol were among the accused.

However, the bench pointed out that Saleem Butt, whom the FIA had described as the “mastermind” of the alleged crime, was later acquitted. Similarly, former NBP president Saeed Ahmed and another senior NBP official, Usman Shahid, were exonerated through a supplementary FIA report.

The court observed three other NBP officials, Hidayat Shar, Syed Akbar Zaidi and Syed Misbah Hussain, who had originally been nominated as accused, were later converted into witnesses without any apparent justification. Four other NBP officials accused of criminal negligence were also tur­ned into witnesses despite no clear reason being provided, the bench noted, adding that all Hascol and Vitol officers had either been acquitted or let off by the FIA.

Published in Dawn, May 26th, 2026