Daily Times

Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Accountability Shehzad Akbar Saturday said the trail of kickbacks and commission received by Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz President Shehbaz Sharif and his sons has been exposed.

“Being a politician and past public office-holder, Shehbaz Sharif is answerable to the people of Pakistan, and he will have to respond to the corruption charges at public forums,” he said while addressing a joint news conference along with Minister for Information and Broadcasting Senator Shibli Faraaz.

Shehzad Akbar said the National Accountability Bureau will soon file a new reference against Shehbaz Sharif on the latest disclosure of kickbacks and money laundering, and demanded that his trial should be conducted on day-to-day basis. He claimed that Shehbaz Sharif established several fake companies in the names of his employees, which were used for ‘unlawful transactions’ to whiten the black money. The source of their income was telegraphic transfers (TTs) sent to them by the poor employees of their companies, he added.

The SAPM said Nisar Gill and Ali Ahmed, close friends and class fellows of Salman Shehbaz, were appointed as directors in the Chief Minister’s Office, and were involved in the illegal activities as frontmen. He said a company used for illegal transactions was Nisar Trading Concern, registered in the name of Rashid Karamat, an employee of Sharif Feed Mills, while another company Khan Traders was registered in the name of the father of Shakeel, an employee of Ramzan Sugar Mills. As per documentary proofs, Rashid Karamat, the resident of a slum near Gulberg, Lahore was a procurement assistant earning Rs 18,000 per month, he added.

Shehzad Akbar said two employees of Shehbaz Sahrif, namely Masroor Anwar and Shoaib Qamar, transferred big amounts from the accounts of Nisar Trading Concern and Khan Traders to the personal accounts of Shehbaz Sharif and Hamza Shehbaz, and copies of their CNICs (computerized national identity cards) were available with the bank branches concerned, he added. He said the amount was written in Urdu language on the cheques given by contractors and builders, but the name of the companies Nisar Traders and others, in whose accounts the same were deposited, was written in English in similar handwriting. He said when questioned about the cheque given by him and deposited in Nisar Trading Company’s account, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz member Saiful Malook Khokar replied that he had given the money for the party fund but the same was transferred to the personal account of Hamza Sharif.

The SAPM said three days back he had made many disclosures against Shehbaz Sharif regarding kickbacks and money laundering, but he had not given any concrete response to the allegations. Shehbaz Shairf, he said, is in quarantine and will never reply, however, some of his cronies, including a former prime minister, will give ridiculous explanations as were done a couple of days back. He said the burden of proof is on Shehbaz Sharif and his sons as billions of rupees were deposited in their personal accounts by their frontmen like Masroor Nawar and Shoaib Qamar, who as the employees of the Sharif family businesses, were earning paltry amounts.

He recalled that Mushtaq Chiniwala and his son in a similar case had turned approves against the Sharif family. He advised Shehbaz Sharif to stay in Pakistan instead if London if he is innocent.

Replying to questions, he said the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government is not against any amendment in the NAB Act for its improvement but it will never allow anyone to disrupt the process of accountability, which is central point of the party’s manifesto and Imran Khan’s slogan.