Following an apology from the assets recovery firm Broadsheet’s CEO Kaveh Moussavi, PML-N President and Opposition Leader Shehbaz Sharif Tuesday said “today is a very important day” in the history of Pakistan.
Addressing a press conference flanked by Ahsan Iqbal and Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, Shehbaz said the head of the British firm had issued an “unconditional apology to former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, acknowledging that they did not find a single loose corruption against him”.
“This is a tight slap on Prime Minister Imran Khan’s face,” he said, accusing him of pushing the nation into an abyss of poverty and unemployment. He said that revelations made by Broadsheet LLC Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Kaveh Moussavi had exposed the “politically inspired witch-hunt of Nawaz Sharif and family in the name of so-called accountability”.
Shehbaz said Broadsheet was established during Pervaiz Musharraf’s tenure. “…NAB-Niazi nexus along with Shahzad Akbar tried hard to prove corruption against Nawaz Sharif; however, they failed miserably,” he added.
He questioned where was the joint investigation team (JIT) that held Nawaz accountable. Shehbaz reiterated that nothing proved despite 20 years of investigation. The PML-N leader said the PTI-led government ridiculed, propagandized Nawaz and the party on television and today everybody witnessed the “drop scene.”
Earlier in the day, Moussavi had issued a profound apology to former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, withdrawing all corruption allegations and for being part of a “witch hunt” that has been running in the name of accountability for over two decades.
In an exclusive interview with a news channel, the Broadsheet CEO and former Oxford University associate said he was apologizing to Nawaz Sharif to set the record straight that he had not found a “scintilla of evidence” and “not one rupee” during Broadsheet’s forensic investigation against Nawaz and his family for over two decades.
Last year, Moussavi had won over $30 million from the government of Pakistan in the London High Court after the arbitration judge Sir Anthony’s ruling in favour of Moussavi and the same case had cost Pakistan over $65 million.
Moussavi had worked as an international arbitrator at the International Court of Arbitration and as an associate fellow at the Centre for Socio-Legal Studies at the University and Head of Public Interest Law, Oxford University.
Broadsheet had signed a contract with the Pervez Musharraf government in 1999 to find the wealth allegedly stolen by Nawaz Sharif, Benazir Bhutto and hundreds of Pakistanis from civil, political, business to military backgrounds.
Moussavi said Broadsheet’s investigations found no evidence of corruption, stolen or hidden wealth or unexplained wealth anywhere in the world.
He said: “Not one rupee. We found a lot of plundered wealth but not one rupee relating to Nawaz, the former prime minister, or any member of his family. Not one rupee, I can categorically say that after virtually 21 years of investigations. If anybody tells you otherwise, they are lying to you.” Moussavi extensively dealt with the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) and said he had no doubt left that the NAB had made cases against Nawaz Sharif on political grounds and that was the reason why he was apologizing to Nawaz Sharif.