Fresh NAB reference against Shehbaz ready
PM’s aide says ‘trail of kickbacks and commission’ has been exposed
Shehbaz Sharif. PHOTO: AFP/FILE
ISLAMABAD:
The PM’s aide on accountability on Saturday said the country’s top anti-graft body had prepared a fresh reference against PML-N President and Opposition Leader in the National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif for receiving kickbacks during his tenure as the Punjab chief minister and would file it in court soon.
“The trail of kickbacks and commission received by Shehbaz Sharif and his sons has been exposed,” Special Assistant to the PM on Accountability Shahzad Akbar said while addressing a news conference along with Federal Information Minister Shibli Faraz.
“Being a politician and a former public office-holder, he [Shehbaz] is answerable to the people of Pakistan and will have to respond to corruption charges at public forums,” he added.
The SAPM also demanded that the opposition leader’s trial on the reference filed by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) should be conducted on a day-to-day basis.
Elaborating further, Akbar said that Shehbaz had set up fake companies in the names of his employees that were used for illegal transactions to hide black money.
“The source of their income [Shehbaz and his sons] was TTs [telegraphic transfers] sent to them by the poor employees of their companies,” he added.
The PM’s aide claimed that Nisar Gill and Ali Ahmed, close friends and former classmates of Shehbaz’s son Salman, were appointed to the Chief Minister's Office as directors and acting as frontmen for the opposition leader’s illegal activities.
Giving details about the fake companies, the SAPM maintained that one of them was named Nisar Trading Concern, registered in the name of Rashid Karamat, an employee of Sharif Feed Mills, and another, Khan Traders, was registered in the name of the father of Shakeel, an employee of the Ramzan Sugar Mills.
“Documentary evidence shows that Rashid Karamat, a resident of a slum near Gulberg in Lahore, is a procurement assistant earning Rs 18,000 per month,” the PM’s aide said.
He further claimed that two employees of Shehbaz, namely Masroor Anwar and Shoaib Qamar, transferred large sums of money from the accounts of Nisar Trading Concern and Khan Traders to the personal accounts of Shehbaz and his son Hamza, and copies of their computerised national identity cards were available with bank branches where the amount was deposited.
“The amount on the cheques given by contractors and builders was written in Urdu but the name of the companies to which the money was being deposited was written in English in a similar handwriting,” the SAPM explained.
When PML-N leader Saiful Malook Khokhar was questioned about a cheque he had deposited in the account of Nisar Trading Concern, he responded that he had given the money for the party fund.
However, the SAPM said, the money was transferred to the personal account of Hamza Shehbaz.
Akbar said three days ago he had made several disclosures about Shehbaz receiving kickbacks and his involvement in money laundering, but the opposition leader had not presented any concrete response to the allegations.
“Shehbaz Sharif is in quarantine and would never reply, but some of his cronies including a former prime minister have been giving ridiculous explanations,” he added.
“The burden of proof is on Shehbaz and his sons as billions of rupees were deposited in their personal accounts by their frontmen including Masroor Nawar and Shoaib Qamar, employees of the Sharif family businesses earning paltry amounts.”
The SAPM recalled that Mushtaq Chiniwala and his son in a similar case had agreed to become approvers against the Sharif family.
He advised Shehbaz to stay in Pakistan instead of leaving for London if he was innocent.
Replying to a question, Akbar said the PTI government was not against any amendment to the NAB law for its improvement but it would never allow anyone to disrupt the process of accountability.
Speaking on the occasion, Information Minister Shibli said apart from the coronavirus pandemic, the country was also facing the virus of corruption and its eradication was necessary as well.
“This virus has plundered national resources and assets like Avenfield Apartments in the UK are reflective of that,” he added. “The Sharif family has been a major part of this.”
The minister said so far there was no vaccine for coronavirus, but fortunately an anti-dote for the virus of corruption was available in the shape of Prime Minister Imran Khan.
“The prime minister is committed to eradicating this virus from the country.”
Shibli said former rulers had built their properties abroad and left the country in times of crisis.
“Whenever they [former rulers] need medical treatment, they fly to UK whereas Imran Khan after falling from a height of 30 feet preferred to get treatment from the hospital built by him.”
The minister hit out at the opposition for alleging that the government was incompetent and lacked a strategy to deal with the coronavirus pandemic.
“Are we incompetent because we want to feed the poor?” Shibli asked while defending the government’s decision to ease restrictions. “Are we incompetent because we want to end their [opposition leaders] corruption?”
The minister said the government was pursuing a comprehensive roadmap to handle the challenge of coronavirus pandemic.
“Despite economic constraints, the government has announced a gigantic stimulus package worth Rs1.2 trillion to provide cushion and support to every segment of the society affected by the pandemic.”
Sharing details of the stimulus package, he said Rs480 billion had been reserved for the business community and exporters whereas a sum of Rs570 billion was earmarked to provide relief to the poor.
The minister explained that Rs200 billion was allocated to provide relief to daily-wage earners and Rs150 billion to vulnerable families, Rs70 billion to reduce fuel prices, Rs50 billion to ensure the availability of goods at Utility Stores and Rs100 billion to provide relief in the payment of utility bills.
Under the Ehsaas Cash emergency programme, Rs104 billion has been disbursed among deserving families so far.
Shibli said all federating units had been taken along to cope with the situation arising out of the pandemic.
He added that there was a difference of opinion between the provinces and the Centre for reopening public transport but now a consensus has been developed on the matter to a great extent. “A policy has been framed to allow public transport vehicles to operate again.”
Stressing the need for unity to tackle the pandemic, the minister regretted that opposition parties had not presented any positive suggestions during the National Assembly session convened on their insistence but used it for political point-scoring instead.
He criticised the PML-N president and leader of the opposition in the National Assembly for not attending the session.
“His [Shehbaz] absence reflects his elite mindset. He did not attend the session because he thinks it’s only his health and life that matters and assigned this task to his colleagues,” he added.
(With additional from APP)
The PM’s aide on accountability on Saturday said the country’s top anti-graft body had prepared a fresh reference against PML-N President and Opposition Leader in the National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif for receiving kickbacks during his tenure as the Punjab chief minister and would file it in court soon.
“The trail of kickbacks and commission received by Shehbaz Sharif and his sons has been exposed,” Special Assistant to the PM on Accountability Shahzad Akbar said while addressing a news conference along with Federal Information Minister Shibli Faraz.
“Being a politician and a former public office-holder, he [Shehbaz] is answerable to the people of Pakistan and will have to respond to corruption charges at public forums,” he added.
The SAPM also demanded that the opposition leader’s trial on the reference filed by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) should be conducted on a day-to-day basis.
Elaborating further, Akbar said that Shehbaz had set up fake companies in the names of his employees that were used for illegal transactions to hide black money.
“The source of their income [Shehbaz and his sons] was TTs [telegraphic transfers] sent to them by the poor employees of their companies,” he added.
The PM’s aide claimed that Nisar Gill and Ali Ahmed, close friends and former classmates of Shehbaz’s son Salman, were appointed to the Chief Minister's Office as directors and acting as frontmen for the opposition leader’s illegal activities.
Giving details about the fake companies, the SAPM maintained that one of them was named Nisar Trading Concern, registered in the name of Rashid Karamat, an employee of Sharif Feed Mills, and another, Khan Traders, was registered in the name of the father of Shakeel, an employee of the Ramzan Sugar Mills.
“Documentary evidence shows that Rashid Karamat, a resident of a slum near Gulberg in Lahore, is a procurement assistant earning Rs 18,000 per month,” the PM’s aide said.
He further claimed that two employees of Shehbaz, namely Masroor Anwar and Shoaib Qamar, transferred large sums of money from the accounts of Nisar Trading Concern and Khan Traders to the personal accounts of Shehbaz and his son Hamza, and copies of their computerised national identity cards were available with bank branches where the amount was deposited.
“The amount on the cheques given by contractors and builders was written in Urdu but the name of the companies to which the money was being deposited was written in English in a similar handwriting,” the SAPM explained.
When PML-N leader Saiful Malook Khokhar was questioned about a cheque he had deposited in the account of Nisar Trading Concern, he responded that he had given the money for the party fund.
However, the SAPM said, the money was transferred to the personal account of Hamza Shehbaz.
Akbar said three days ago he had made several disclosures about Shehbaz receiving kickbacks and his involvement in money laundering, but the opposition leader had not presented any concrete response to the allegations.
“Shehbaz Sharif is in quarantine and would never reply, but some of his cronies including a former prime minister have been giving ridiculous explanations,” he added.
“The burden of proof is on Shehbaz and his sons as billions of rupees were deposited in their personal accounts by their frontmen including Masroor Nawar and Shoaib Qamar, employees of the Sharif family businesses earning paltry amounts.”
The SAPM recalled that Mushtaq Chiniwala and his son in a similar case had agreed to become approvers against the Sharif family.
He advised Shehbaz to stay in Pakistan instead of leaving for London if he was innocent.
Replying to a question, Akbar said the PTI government was not against any amendment to the NAB law for its improvement but it would never allow anyone to disrupt the process of accountability.
Speaking on the occasion, Information Minister Shibli said apart from the coronavirus pandemic, the country was also facing the virus of corruption and its eradication was necessary as well.
“This virus has plundered national resources and assets like Avenfield Apartments in the UK are reflective of that,” he added. “The Sharif family has been a major part of this.”
The minister said so far there was no vaccine for coronavirus, but fortunately an anti-dote for the virus of corruption was available in the shape of Prime Minister Imran Khan.
“The prime minister is committed to eradicating this virus from the country.”
Shibli said former rulers had built their properties abroad and left the country in times of crisis.
“Whenever they [former rulers] need medical treatment, they fly to UK whereas Imran Khan after falling from a height of 30 feet preferred to get treatment from the hospital built by him.”
The minister hit out at the opposition for alleging that the government was incompetent and lacked a strategy to deal with the coronavirus pandemic.
“Are we incompetent because we want to feed the poor?” Shibli asked while defending the government’s decision to ease restrictions. “Are we incompetent because we want to end their [opposition leaders] corruption?”
The minister said the government was pursuing a comprehensive roadmap to handle the challenge of coronavirus pandemic.
“Despite economic constraints, the government has announced a gigantic stimulus package worth Rs1.2 trillion to provide cushion and support to every segment of the society affected by the pandemic.”
Sharing details of the stimulus package, he said Rs480 billion had been reserved for the business community and exporters whereas a sum of Rs570 billion was earmarked to provide relief to the poor.
The minister explained that Rs200 billion was allocated to provide relief to daily-wage earners and Rs150 billion to vulnerable families, Rs70 billion to reduce fuel prices, Rs50 billion to ensure the availability of goods at Utility Stores and Rs100 billion to provide relief in the payment of utility bills.
Under the Ehsaas Cash emergency programme, Rs104 billion has been disbursed among deserving families so far.
Shibli said all federating units had been taken along to cope with the situation arising out of the pandemic.
He added that there was a difference of opinion between the provinces and the Centre for reopening public transport but now a consensus has been developed on the matter to a great extent. “A policy has been framed to allow public transport vehicles to operate again.”
Stressing the need for unity to tackle the pandemic, the minister regretted that opposition parties had not presented any positive suggestions during the National Assembly session convened on their insistence but used it for political point-scoring instead.
He criticised the PML-N president and leader of the opposition in the National Assembly for not attending the session.
“His [Shehbaz] absence reflects his elite mindset. He did not attend the session because he thinks it’s only his health and life that matters and assigned this task to his colleagues,” he added.
(With additional from APP)