Daily Times

Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Accountability Barrister Shahzad Akbar Thursday said a sophisticated network of money laundering was being run from Punjab Chief Minister’s Secretariat under the patronage of then chief minister Shehbaz Sharif, who often claims not committing even a single penny corruption.

Talking to media here, he said a sum of over 7 billion had been laundered by just one company – Good Nature Trading Company – through 200 fake telegraphic transfers (TTs). He said assets of Salman Shehbaz increased by over 8,000 times in last one decade only. “A new business empire was established by utilising the corruption amount through a network of fake TTs, which was totally separate from the Sharif family’s business of Ittefaq Group,” he claimed.

Sharing details of money laundering, he also ‘revealed’ the modus operandi of money laundering. “Shehbaz Sharif established a fake company – Good Nature Trading Company – and appointed his front men Nisar Gill as Director Political Affairs at CM Secretariat and Ali Ahmed as Director Policy. They did money laundering on behalf of Shehbaz family. The fake company was actually run by Salman Shehbaz. The company did Rs 7 billion business, that too on papers,” he claimed.

He said two more characters – Shoaib Qamar and Mansoor Anwar – were involved in money laundering network as cash boys. “They used to deposit money in different accounts. They withdrew Rs 2.1 billion cash from the account of Good Nature Comapny. Rs 16 million were deposited in the account of Shehbaz Sharif, who transferred it to Tehmina Durrani and the same amount was used for purchasing property in Whispering Pines Villas,” he said. “The same cash boys deposited Rs 25 million in Salman Shehbaz’s account after withdrawing from Good Nature Company. Similarly another amount was transferred to account of Hamza Shehbaz, who transferred it to the account of his wife and utilized the same amount for purchasing properties in Johar Town, Lahore. The remaining amount was stashed away through TTs. The whole process was done in papers,” he claimed.

Shahzad Akbar said Rs 6.8 billion was withdrawn from Good Nature Company’s account and Rs 4.7 billion was then injected to another company. The control room was at Chief Minister’s Secretariat, he claimed, adding that some more characters of money laundering network will emerge soon.

He said the details of 190 million pounds (Rs 39 billion) recovered from property tycoon Mailk Riaz could not be divulged as Pakistan has to honour deed of confidentiality committed with the government of United Kingdom. “This is civil repatriation and record success of the government of Pakistan. UK government has transferred the recovered amount,” he said.

Responding to a question, Shahzad Akbar said civil recovery is easy in UK and the government is working on it. To another question, he said the repatriated 190 million pounds had a link with Hassan Nawaz’s property in London. “Plea bargain option exists for Nawaz Sharif also as the government wants to recover the money and does not want to keep anyone in jail,” he said.

Posing 18 questions to former Punjab chief minister, he hoped that Shehbaz Sharif will answer these questions. “Whether Nisar Gill and Ali Ahmed were not working as directors for political affairs and strategy and policy respectively at the Chief Minister’s office during his tenure as Chief Minister Punjab?,” he asked. “Shahbaz Sharif Sahib, whether both aforementioned persons were not your front men and owners of Good Nature Company (GNC) which existed only on papers? Can you confirm that Nisar Gill had written his designation as advisor on political affairs in his bank account opening form and the address he wrote in the form was Chief Minister’s Office,” he went on to say.

“Shahbaz Sharif, can you confirm that same director political affairs Nisar Gill had accompanied your son Salman Shehbaz in the visits of London, Dubai and Qatar? Is it not a fact that your cash boys Masroor Anwar and Shoaib Qamar had transferred millions of rupees into your account after withdrawing the same from the account of GNC. Would you like to confirm that you bought two villas at Whispering Pines for your wife Tehmina Durrani by utilizing the same amount?” he asked. “Shahbaz Sharif, would you like to confirm that the aforementioned cash boys had transferred billions of rupees into the accounts of your two sons Hamza and Saman after withdrawing from the accounts of GNC? Would you like to tell that Nisar Gill had transferred huge amount from his account to you and your sons’ accounts? Is it not a fact that you [Shehbaz Sharif] and your family utilized billions of rupees of GNC accounts to meet your and family’s expenses in the country and abroad? Is it not a fact that GNC deposited millions of rupees indirectly in the account of your peon Malik Maqsood? Is it not a fact that by appointing the owners of GNC in chief minister’s office you were directly involved in laundering the black money? Virtually you were patronizing this business from your office?” he asked.

“Is it not a fact that you received kickbacks and commission at your residence 96 H Model Town and is it not a fact that your green bullet proof Land Cruiser and Elite Force Punjab were used in transferring the black money at your another office 55-K, Model Town residence?” he went on to claim. “Shehbaz Sharif Sahib, is it not a fact that you and your family were involved in transferring money through TTs with the help of different money changers? Had you not constructed 96-H, Model Town Lahore from the money laundered through these TTs?” he asked. “Will you confirm that four money exchange companies including Al Zaroni Exchange Company and Rames Tax Exchange transferred huge amount in the account of Begum Nusrat Shehbaz and Salman Shehbaz through TTs. The same companies also laundered money for Asif Ali Zardari and Omni group? Has your son in law Ali Imran not devoured money donated by Department for International Development (DFID) through Naveed Ikram? Will you like to tell, Mr Shehbaz, that when will you sue Daily Mail journalist David Rose?” he further asked. “I am still waiting for Shehbaz Sharif to sue Daily Mail as claimed by him to preserve the honour and dignity of Pakistan and its people,” he concluded.