ISLAMABAD: Police and Pakistan People’s Party workers clashed as Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari appeared before the National Accountability Bureau in relation to the fake accounts case on Wednesday.
Former president Asif Ali Zardari and his son party Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari were to appear separately before the NAB on May 29.
Bilawal Bhutto left the NAB headquarters after being interrogated for 30 minutes. Bilawal was questioned regarding kickbacks received by the Zardari Group of Companies – of which he is a director. Reportedly, he was given a questionnaire with 32 queries.
Earlier upon Bilawal Bhutto’s arrival, workers chanted slogans in his favour. Police used water cannon to stop PPP workers from moving forward. At D-chowk, PPP workers and police broke into a scuffle as well.
Police baton-charged workers at several places and also made arrests later on.
#PPP workers beaten, dragged, arrested, water cannon & tear gassed. #Pakistan has not seen this kind of pre planned state brutality since Dictatorship – that too against peaceful, unarmed citizens in the capital. Shameful, disgusting & absolutely illegal. pic.twitter.com/hNYl5vYObx
— Bakhtawar B-Zardari (@BakhtawarBZ) May 29, 2019
Earlier, former president Zardari excused himself from appearing before the NAB in relation to the fake accounts case, sources informed. The accountability bureau had summoned the former president for a second time for questioning in the investigation of corruption cases involving power projects and awarding of illegal contracts.
This will be the second time the former president excused himself from presenting before the probe authority. The NAB will decide about the non-appearance of former president Zardari in the case later, sources said.
PPP workers restricted entry
Due to the likely arrival of the PPP leaders in the capital, the Islamabad administration had banned the entry of ‘jiyalas’ in the federal capital. On Tuesday, Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) barred political workers from entering the federal capital and directed the provincial home secretaries of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab to instruct their police personnel to stop PPP workers, saying that the presence of party workers could lead to chaos. The administration sealed the entry routes to the federal capital, in order to stop PPP workers from arriving. Moreover, PPP leaders and workers were stopped from reaching Zardari House.
PPP Punjab Secretary General Chaudhry Manzoor said that stopping ‘jiyalas’ is a cowardly move and PPP workers will reach the federal capital today. Manzoor said that the democratic rights of the workers are being usurped.
Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, before leaving, expressed gratitude to his supporters in a tweet: “Despite CJ Nisar announcing that I am innocent, govt has no tolerance for constructive criticism and opposition voices, continue to persecute political opponents. Luckily I’ve had a lot of practice.”
Thank you all for supportive messages. Will be leaving for NAB pindi shortly. Despite CJ Nisar announcing that I am innocent, govt has no tolerance for constructive criticism & opposition voices, continue to persecute political opponents. Luckily I’ve had a lot of practice 👇 pic.twitter.com/VzAmUjRoL3
— BilawalBhuttoZardari (@BBhuttoZardari) May 29, 2019
Meanwhile, sources have learned that Zardari has excused himself from appearing before NAB today.
The case
The FIA is investigating 32 people in relation to money laundering from fictitious accounts, including Zardari and Talpur. Zardari’s close aide Hussain Lawai was arrested in July last year in connection with the probe.
The former president’s close aide and Omni Group chairman Anwar Majeed and his son, Abdul Ghani, were arrested by FIA in August 2018.
Over 20 ‘benami’ accounts at some private banks were opened in 2013, 2014 and 2015 from where transactions worth billions of rupees were made, according to sources.
The amount, according to FIA sources, is said to be black money gathered from various kickbacks, commissions and bribes.
The JIT report in a nutshell
According to the report, the JIT identified 11,500 bank accounts and 924 account holders at the start of their investigation.
Its experts generated 59 Suspected Transaction Reports (STR) and 24,500 Cash Transaction Reports. That means the transactions were flagged as suspicious.
Due to the high quantum of transactions, the JIT decided on a threshold of Rs10million “to track, follow and minutely investigate the flow of funds beyond the immediate counterparties and determine the source of funds and ultimate beneficiaries.”
It questioned 767 individuals, including Zardari and Talpur, while Bilawal submitted written responses.