Nawaz overthrew Benazir's government on behest of bin Laden: Sharjeel Memon

Says jail is second home to PPP workers


News Desk November 03, 2017
PHOTO: PPI

Former Sindh information minister Sharjeel Inam Memon accused ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif on Friday of overthrowing Benzair Bhutto's government on behest of al Qaeda’s Osama bin Laden for money, Express News reported.

Speaking to the media outside Sindh Assembly, the Pakistan People’s Party [PPP] leader said Nawaz was 'a product of dictators'. “What would he know of ideology?” he asked.

On the National Accountability Bureau [NAB] references filed against the Sharif family in the accountability court, Memon said the NAB was partial in its treatment to PML-N and to those in Sindh. “NAB was not allowed access to Nawaz Sharif at the Benazir Bhutto International Airport but I was arrested from the runway,” he added.

Accountability watchdog triumphs in six-hour game of ‘NAB me if you can’

Memon said while the PML-N leader minted money through Islamic republic unions,  Asif Ali Zardari remained was imprisoned for 11 years in fake cases. “Prison is the second home of a PPP worker,” he stated.

Responding to a question regarding the heavy contingent of security forces deployed for Sharif family’s trip to the accountability court owing to a large crowd of party workers, Memon said using state resources and VVIP protocol was wrong but added that it was the right of every worker to show support for their leader.

Memon was sent on a ten-day judicial remand in the custody of NAB by an accountability court on October 24 in connection with a Rs5.76 billion government advertisements graft scam.

Memon, a close aide of former president and PPP Co-Chairperson Asif Ali Zardari, was nominated in a reference by NAB relating to alleged corruption in award of advertisements of the provincial government’s awareness campaigns in electronic media.

Sharjeel siphoned off Rs5.77b through ad tenders

According to the bureau, an investigation into awarding of advertisements between July, 2013 and June, 2015 revealed that the accused acted in connivance with each other, resulting in a loss of Rs3.28 billion to the national exchequer. It further revealed that Rs5.76 billion were allegedly paid to seven advertisement companies in violation of the Sindh Public Procurement Rules, 2010.

NAB alleged that the former information minister had illegally approved contracts of favourite advertising agencies at exorbitant rates.

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