The passports were issued by the Houston consulate, as had been alleged by Pakistan's anti-corruption agency, in its case against former consul general Ghulam Rasool Baloch and other persons.
Three Indian citizens, including a man linked to the 1993 serial bomb blasts in Mumbai, were issued Pakistani passports by the country's consulate in the US city of Houston, an anti-corruption court has been told by a senior diplomat.
Pakistan's consul general in Houston, Aqil Nadeem, appeared as a witness in the accountability court in Rawalpindi yesterday, and confirmed that Pakistani passports were issued by the consulate to Indian nationals Aziz Moosa, Saleem Ali and Abdul Sadiq.
Nadeem told judge Wamiq Javaid that the passports were issued by the Houston consulate, as had been alleged by the National Accountability Bureau, the country's anti-corruption agency, in its case against former consul general Ghulam Rasool Baloch and other persons.
He said cases of misappropriation of funds had also figured in a report of the audit of the consulate's financial records.
According to information provided to NAB by the US' Federal Bureau of Investigation, Moosa was issued a Pakistani passport in the name of Syed Nazar Ali, Saleem Ali in the name of Karim Ali and Abdul Sadiq in the name of Sultan Abdullah.
An American passport bearing the name Syed Nazar Ali was found after the 1993 bomb blasts in Mumbai, and probe revealed the man was actually an Indian national named Aziz Moosa.
Subsequent investigations showed that several passports had been issued by the Pakistani consulate in Houston, including one issued to Moosa.
A series of 13 bomb blasts in Mumbai on March 12, 1993 had killed 257 people and injured hundreds.
The attacks were coordinated by underworld mob boss Dawood Ibrahim with help from Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence agency.
In March 2008, Pakistan's foreign ministry referred to the NAB a report received from the FBI that about 300 passports had been issued by the consulate in Houston against fake or incomplete documents.
NAB then filed a case against former consul general Ghulam Rasool Baloch, assistant consul general Mohammad Naeem and travel agent Imran Lalpuri for issuing passports to Indian citizens Aziz Moosa, Salim Ali and Abdul Sadiq.
NAB alleged that Lalpuri was working as a "front man" for Baloch.
Baloch's lawyer SA Mehmood Sadozai argued in court yesterday that the prosecution had merely relied on information provided by the FBI, and had not investigated the case by themselves.
Replying to a question by the judge, NAB prosecutors said they had examined FBI officials but did not record their statements. The court has scheduled the next hearing for January 19.
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