ISLAMABAD: Hussain Nawaz, elder son of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, on Monday rejected Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan’s statement that the Sharif family defaulted on a Rs 6 billion bank loan. “Khan always talks about the bank default, but he should have some evidence, like the name of the bank the Sharif family has defaulted against,” Nawaz said on a TV show aired on Monday night. He said that he was ready to face the law if Khan’s statement proves true. Nawaz said that he legally owned apartments in London and three offshore companies. He said he wondered how Khan was making wrong assessments about his family’s assets abroad. He said that his brother Hasan Nawaz was doing business in London for more than 20 years and he used to purchase rundown properties at low prices and sell them after refurbishment. Nawaz rejected Khan’s criticism of the metro bust project and said that such projects could not be compared to projects in other countries, as values of real estate differed from country to country. Replying to a question, Nawaz said that investigation into corruption should be conducted in every part of the country. He said that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif or Prime Minister’s House never intervened in the affairs of the corruption watchdogs, including the National Accountability Bureau (NAB). Answering a question, Nawaz said there should be a fair accountability across the board. “If there are any issues in Punjab that require a probe, there should be no bar on initiating accountability there,” he said. He said that his father or his office never interfered in the accountability process. Commenting on the Lahore Metro Bus Service, he dispelled the impression that it was over billed and asked the opponents to stop unnecessary criticism of the project. He said that Khan’s claim that the metro bus project was expensive than similar projects in other countries lacked the rationale. “If Khan wants to compare Istanbul’s metro project [with the Lahore’s metro bus project], he should produce that country’s official data. He should tell the people as to where he had collected the data about the metro bus service,” he added. Nawaz said the authorities associated with the metro bus project had time and again clarified facts about the project through the media. Answering a question, he said, the Sharif family was penniless when it was forced into exile, but some close friends and sympathisers gave them loans without any conditions to start business. All those loans, he added, were paid back on time. During this course of time, he said, the Sharif family bought an abandoned mill in Dubai and revived it. No foreign government extended any financial support to the Sharif family for establishing businesses. He said the steel mills he refurbished in Jeddah was sold when there was a boom in the steel industry in 2005 and this helped his family settle its financial matters. In response to a question, Nawaz said that Prime Minister’s House never instructed the NAB or any other corruption watchdog to stop the accountability process. He called on the accountability bodies to try former president Pervez Musharraf. He said he could forgive Musharraf for what he did to his family, but what he did to the country was irreparable. Musharraf was accused of persecuting the Sharif family after overthrowing the PML-N government in 1999. Nawaz said the Sharif family was forced into exile empty handed and he was imprisoned for 14 months for nothing. He said that his father had been implicated in the plane hijacking case and that Musharraf failed to prove any corruption charges against his family. “Would Musharraf pardon us if we were involved in corruption?” he asked. Nawaz said Musharraf had conveyed a message through the late Majeed Nizami that Nawaz Sharif could be allowed to travel anywhere if he appoints PML-N president of his (Musharraf’s) choice.Commenting on assets of the Sharif family, Nawaz said both Shahbaz Sharif and Nawaz Sharif owned one sugar mill each.