SHC Acquits Former NBP President in Hascol Case

The Sindh High Court has acquitted former National Bank of Pakistan president Syed Ahmed Iqbal Ashraf in the ₨54 billion Hascol financing case after observing that a substantial number of individuals initially nominated in the matter had subsequently been acquitted, exonerated, or converted into prosecution witnesses, according to a report published by Dawn.

A two-member bench headed by Justice Omar Sial allowed Ashraf’s acquittal application after examining the case record and hearing arguments advanced by both parties. The former NBP president had challenged an April 2025 order issued by a special banking court rejecting his acquittal plea.

The Federal Investigation Agency had earlier filed charges against more than 20 officials associated with NBP, Hascol Petroleum Company Limited, and Vitol over allegations that financing facilities extended to Hascol between 2015 and 2020 resulted in losses amounting to ₨54 billion for the bank.

According to the court order, the FIA alleged that NBP extended financing facilities worth approximately ₨5 billion to Hascol during Ashraf’s tenure as bank president between 2014 and 2016. The agency further claimed that the bank’s financial exposure subsequently increased to ₨15.65 billion between 2017 and 2019 during the tenure of former NBP president Saeed Ahmed Khan.

The bench observed that several senior NBP officials originally nominated in the case on allegations similar to those levelled against Ashraf were later converted into prosecution witnesses. These included Hidayat Shar, Syed Akbar Zaidi, and Syed Misbah Hussain, whom the court noted had initially been treated as accused persons before being redesignated as witnesses without clear justification.

The order further recorded that four additional NBP officials accused of criminal negligence were similarly converted into witnesses, while all individuals associated with Hascol and Vitol had either been acquitted or discharged by the FIA during the course of proceedings.

The court additionally noted that Saleem Butt, whom the FIA had described as the principal architect of the alleged fraud, was subsequently acquitted.

Similarly, former NBP president Saeed Ahmed and senior bank official Usman Shahid were exonerated through a supplementary FIA report.

The FIA’s original charge-sheet had also included NBP officials Rima Ather and Syed Irtiza Kazmi, alongside several other banking officials and Hascol representatives, including Saleem Butt and Ali Ansari.

According to the court record, Vitol Dubai Limited acquired a 25% stake in Hascol during 2016 through purchase of shares from Mumtaz Hasan Khan, Saleem Butt, and Liaquat Ali, while Salman Butt was serving as chief executive officer of Hascol at the time.

The order further noted that Hascol was originally incorporated as a private limited company in 2001 by Mumtaz Hasan before subsequently being converted into a public limited company in 2007.