'Never seen a more fraudulent person': Shehbaz lashes out at Imran for 'buying' MNAs

LAHORE:

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif jumped on the criticism wagon on Saturday, slamming Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan over his purported audio leak regarding “buying” MNAs

Talking to the media after appearing before a special court in Lahore for the hearing of the money laundering case, the premier said, “In his [Imran’s] latest audio leak he is himself as prime minister saying that he has bought five votes, [confessing to] selling his conscience.”

Lashing out at the PTI chief, the prime minister asked, “Where did the money to buy those five votes come from?”

Shehbaz’s remarks about the former prime minister come a day after two fresh audio leaks, both purportedly of Imran Khan's, surfaced on social media.

The first audio featured the PTI chairman talking about “buying” MNAs – a practice also known as horse-trading - and the second one featured the former premier talking discussing 'the cipher' with party leaders Asad Umar and Shireen Mazari.

Read Court fixes Oct 8 for acquittal pleas of PM, Hamza in money laundering case

During his media talk today, the prime minister stated that, “Imran Niazi gives so many fatwas, and keeps talking about a Riyasat-i-Madina. But look at his work. I have never seen a more fraudulent and deceitful person than him. His [Imran’s] mentality has made defamed Pakistan all across the world.”

“Listen to their audio... in it he directs to not mention the US' name, but goes around telling people that his war is Haqeeqi Azadi,” added Shehbaz.

“Telling lies day and night, and spoiling relations with the world is a conspiracy against Pakistan,” added the premier.

Shehbaz furthered that we have to make Pakistan a great global power, and we can't do that by lies or cooking up conspiracies, but by working patiently.

"The country's economy was in ruins when I took over," he said, adding that this coalition government saved Pakistan from bankruptcy.

The prime minister also lauded the newly appointed Finance Minister Ishaq Dar for his efforts to make the rupee stronger.

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Commenting on the money laundry case, the premier said that former chief justice of Pakistan Saqib Nisar used to hold hearings day in and day out. "He defamed me using the 56 companies' case," said PM Shehbaz.

“My question to this system and the chief justice is that those 56 companies are still functional. I used these 56 companies to serve the public,” he added.

The premier also said that the party supremo Nawaz Sharif never asked for any NRO, in fact, he had himself requested the court to investigate the Panama Papers accusations.

Shehbaz commended the PML-N's top leaderships for bravely serving jail times and patiently suffering the worst atrocities. The premier defended Maryam Nawaz's acquittal in the Avenfield case, saying she was acquitted on merit and not with the help of the changes made to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) laws.

The premier accused Imran's sister, Aleema Khan, and a close friend of his wife's, Farhat Shehzadi alias Farah Gogi, of getting an 'NRO' during the PTI chief's tenure as prime minister.