Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: PM’s Special Assistant on Accountability Shahzad Akbar on Wednesday announced that the government has evidence of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Shehbaz Sharif and his family’s involvement in money laundering, adding that the assets of the Sharif family significantly increased in 10 years during the PML-N’s rule in Punjab

Addressing a press conference, he said that Shehbaz had established dozens of front companies in 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.

Akbar said that from 2008 to 2018, “mind-blowing” increase in assets of Shehbaz and his sons was detected. He said that the source of their income was 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 also said through a paper firm GNC, transactions of billions of rupees were done by two front men and close friends of Salman Shehbaz, Nisar Gill and Ali Ahmed. He added that Shehbaz had taken the plea that his sons were adults and he was not responsible for their actions, however, he appointed Nisar Gill and Ali Ahmed in the Chief Minister’s Office as director of political affairs and director policy, respectively.

Akbar said that one company, Nisar Trading Company, was registered in the name of Sharif Feed Mills employee Rashid Karamat and transaction of Rs425 million was done in this firm’s account. He said that Rs450m 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 also said Rs5bn 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, he added, Rs350m were deposited in the account of Azhar Abbas, Rs480m in the account of Muhmmad Anwar, Rs560m in the account of Ghulam Shabbir and Rs210m in the account of Tanveerul Haq, all employees of Ramzan Sugar Mills.

He further said that overall Rs17.4bn were deposited in paper firms and benami accounts of the employees of Shehbaz’s companies whose monthly salaries were from Rs18,000 per month to Rs70,000. Akbar 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’s firms.

He said that as per collected documentary proofs, Rashid Karamat, a resident of a slum near Gulberg, Lahore, was a procurement assistant earning Rs 18,000 per month. “How were Rs450m transferred in his account?” he asked.

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

He said that when PML-N members were questioned about the cheques deposited by them in the Nisar Trading Company accounts, they said that they had given donation for party funds.

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

Responding to a question, Akbar said that arrest of any accused was purview of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB). He demanded that Shehbaz’s name should be put on the Exit Control List (ECL) because there was a chance that he might go to England to celebrate Eidul Azha there.

Dispelling the impression that only opposition party leaders were victimised, Akbar said that it was for the first time the government was doing self-accountability and inquiry into sugar and wheat shortage were its manifestation.

He said that the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) was fighting against an obsolete system and not against the Sharifs and Zardaris, who were its beneficiaries.