Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: In a crafty move, the opposition on Tuesday prepared another questionnaire for Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to answer using Ishaq Dar’s controversial affidavit he had submitted some 16 years ago against his political boss. Dar has always denied he ever raised money laundering allegations against the Sharif family and has already got controversial affidavit struck down by the high court. The court had ruled that the affidavit was obtained from him while keeping him under duress. A long trusted aide of the prime minister, Dar is not only the finance minister but also a dependable troubleshooter to resolve political stalemates. However, the opposition has caught him off-guard by using his controversial affidavit in the new questionnaire. Dar was supposed to meet the opposition leaders at the chamber of National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq. However, he did not turn up, most probably to avoid an embarrassing situation. The story began in the year 2000 when Gen Musharraf regime prepared a money laundering reference against Nawaz Sharif and Shahbaz Sharif on the basis of Dar’s statement, which he had recorded before a magistrate. In the written affidavit, Dar on April 25, 2000, had confessed that Sharif brothers used the Hudaibya Paper Mills as cover for money laundering during the late 1990s. In his 43-page statement, Dar then conceded that he was instructed by Sharif brothers to open two fake foreign currency accounts in the name of Sikandara Masood Qazi and Talat Masood Qazi with the foreign currency funds provided by the Sharif family in the Bank of America. On Tuesday, although Dar skipped his meeting with the opposition, he did not miss the opportunity to claim that the so-called joint opposition would soon disintegrate. The opposition staged a walkout from the National Assembly on Monday after the prime minister concluded his speech. The opposition wanted him to respond to seven specific questions. Not satisfied with the prime minister’s response, it announced to ask another 70 questions. The very first question that how Sharif family took its wealth abroad was based on Dar’s controversial affidavit, which disclosed that Bank of America, Citibank, Atlas Investment Bank, Al Barka Bank and Al Towfeeq Investment Bank were used under the instructions of the Sharif family for money laundering. It also revealed that an amount of $3.725 million in Emirates Bank, $8.539 million in Al Faysal Bank and $2.622 million were later transferred to the accounts of Hudaibya Paper Mills. Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan on Monday accused that Sharif brothers purchased luxury flats in London in 1993 with the same laundered money. The situation after Panama leaks is though fast changing, yet at any stage it doesn’t seem to be helping Sharifs family at all.