PTI govt gives one-month ultimatum to past rulers to return ‘looted wealth'

Federal Minister Murad Saeed says legal action will be taken if plundered money was not returned


​ Our Correspondent January 28, 2020
Communication Minister Murad Saeed and PM's aide on media Firdous Ashiq Awan address media in Islamabad. SCREENGRAB

ISLAMABAD: [fbvideo link="https://www.facebook.com/etribune/videos/227825291555909/"][/fbvideo]

The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government has decided to recover “national wealth plundered" by past rulers belonging to the PPP and PML-N on the pretext of security and camp offices.

The decision was made in the federal cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Imran Khan in Islamabad on Tuesday.

Addressing a news conference soon after the high-level huddle in the federal capital, Minister for Communication Murad Saeed along with Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Information Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan fired a broadside at opponents saying: “The government will give a one-month ultimatum to Asif Ali Zardari, Yousuf Raza Gilani and the Sharif family to return the tax payers’ money.”

Murad also vowed legal action if the 'looted wealth' was not returned in the period of a month by the opposition leaders. The decision has also been taken that the prime minister and the president would not be allowed to set up their camp offices, he added.

The communication minister claimed that the governments of PPP and PML-N borrowed a massive debt of Rs24,000 billion in a period of 10 years but failed to make any improvement in the education and health sectors.

PM Imran is making all-out efforts to save the tax payers’ money, Murad said,. "For this reason Imran Khan lives in his private residence instead of the Prime Minister House.”

Zardari will return 'looted wealth' by March next year: Sheikh Rashid

Sharing the details of "lavish expenditures", the firebrand minister went on to say that former prime minister "Gillani had five camp offices in Multan and in Lahore, whereas former president Asif Ali Zardari spent Rs163 billion on his security”.

“2,753 personnel were deployed for the security of the Sharif family and around Rs2 billion were spent on the security of Jati Umrah residence,” he added.

As if it was not enough, the federal minister further said that ex-premier Nawaz Sharif had undertaken 25 private visits to London and also travelled abroad for medical treatment using a private jet.

Former Punjab chief minister Shehbaz Sharif used over Rs8 billion from the national exchequer, Murad added.

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