Daily Times

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President and Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif on Wednesday took aim at Prime Minister Imran Khan, saying he has not presented a single piece of evidence to substantiate allegations levelled against him in a court.

“IK accused me of offering him a bribe Rs.10 billion to be silent in Panama case/Javed Sadiq as front man. Then it was said I siphoned off money from Multan Metro, a baseless charge rejected by Chinese govt. Even to this day, he has not presented a single piece of evidence in court,” he tweeted.

The PML-N leader accused the premier of deploying “poor old tactics of propaganda on media to save their own gross incompetence & corrupt practices in sugar/wheat/medicines/Peshawar BRT.” He said no propaganda can cover up the PTI government’s “poor governance & incompetence”.

Earlier, on May 8, Shehbaz Sharif had demanded urgent and impartial investigations into recent drug scandal. He demanded the constitution of a parliamentary committee to probe the matter.

Shehbaz Sharif said that the prime minister was directly responsible for the wheat and sugar scandals of the past and is now also responsible for the drug scandal. Meanwhile, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Accountability Shahzad Akbar on Wednesday said that the assets of Sharif family had significantly increased in 10 years when the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz was in power in the Punjab. He said that Shehbaz Sharif had established dozens of paper front companies on employees’ names for money laundering and documentary evidences of all these unlawful transactions had been collected and it would not be easy for him to escape the law.

Addressing a press conference here, Shahzad Akbar said that from 2008 to 2018, mind-blowing increase in assets of Shehbaz Sharif and his sons was detected. He said that source of their income were Telegraphic Transfers sent to them by poor employees of their companies. He said that the money was sent abroad through Hundi and then sent back via TTs.

He said through a paper firm GNC billions of rupees transactions were done by two front men and close friends and call fellows of Salman Shehbaz, Nisar Gill and Ali Ahmed. He said that Shehbaz Sharif had taken the plea that his sons were grownup and he was not responsible for their actions. However, he appointed Nisar Gill and Ali Ahmed in Chief Minister office as Director on Political Affairs and Director Policy. He said that one company Nisar Trading Company was registered in the name of Sharif Feed Mills employee Rashid Karamat and Rs 425 million transaction was done in this firm’s account. He said Rs 450 million were deposited in the account of a company Khan Traders, registered in the name of the father of one Gulzar, an employee of Ramzan Sugar Mills. He said Rs 5 billion were deposited in the account of Maqsood and Co, a firm in the name of Malik Maqsood, who worked at the Sharif-owned Chiniot Energy Office as a peon. Similarly Rs 350 million were deposited in the account of Azhar Abbas, Rs 480 million in account of Muhammad Anwar, Rs 560 million in account of Ghulam Shabbir and Rs 210 million in the account of Tanveerul Haq, all employees of Ramzan Sugar Mills. Overall Rs 17.4 billion were deposited in paper firms and benami accounts of the employees of Shehbaz Sharif companies whose monthly salaries were from Rs 18000 per month to Rs 70,000. He said that all details of these employees were available with Employees Old Age Benefit Fund (EOBI) record and nobody could deny that they were not working with Shehbaz Sharif’s firms. He said that as per collected documentary proofs, Rashid Karamat, resident of a slum near Gulberg, Lahore was a procurement assistant earning Rs 18000 per month. How Rs 450 million were transferred in his account, he asked.

He said that two employees so Shehbaz Sharif namely Masroor Anwar and Shoaib Qamar transferred big amounts from Nisar Trading Company account to Shehbaz Sharif and Hamza Shehbaz accounts and copies of the CNICs of both of them were available with the concerned bank branches.

He said that when party members of the PML-N were questioned about the cheques given by them deposited in Nisar Trading Company, the accounts of Hamza and Shehbaz Sharif they said that had given donation for party funds. However, he questioned as to why those people donated who either got some contracts from Punjab government or they got political benefits.

He asked Shehbaz Sharif if these allegations were baseless, he should drag him courts in London as he used to claim and he should give answers to these questions in the courts and media.

Replying the questions of media persons, Shahzad Akbar said that arrest of any accused was purview of National Accountability Bureau (NAB). He demanded that name of Shehbaz Sharif should be put in Exit Control List (ECL) as there was chance that with hot winds blowing here, he might go to England to celebrate Eidul Azha there. Dispelling the impression that only opposition party leaders were victimized, he said that in the history of accountability for the first time the government was doing self-accountability and inquiry on sugar and wheat shortage were its manifestation. He said that PTI was fighting against the obsolete system and not against Sharifs and Zardaris, who were its beneficiaries’.