Asghar Khan case: Younis Habib denies making payments to Sharif brothers

Retracts testimony after an FIA team met him to record his statement.

ISLAMABAD:

In a surprising development in the Asghar Khan case eighteen years later, the PML-N leadership has received an all-clear, after Younis Habib, a key witness in the case, retracted his statement of having paid the prime minister and Punjab chief minister sums of money to run campaigns in the 1990 general elections. Habib says he did not pay any amount from the Mehran Bank accounts to either politician, according to a source. 

Sources told the Express Investigation Cell that the FIA investigation team, headed by Ghalib Bandashah, approached Habib in Karachi in the last week of January to record his statement. The officials also had the name of ‘Chaudhary Sharif’ – a Jhelum-based hotelier – to suggest to Younis Habib as substitute if he agrees to change his statement to give a safe passage to the politicians. However, the task proved easier for the inquiry panel when Younis Habib agreed to change his previous statement without implicating any substitute having identical name to PML-N leaders.

Sources said Habib altered his statement following a series of meetings with the four-member FIA team; he also added a few names of beneficiaries of funds – Yousaf Mamon, for instance, allegedly received Rs20 million for the MQM leadership. Mamon’s name had not been recorded in Habib’s statements prior to this. Bandashah has now been elevated to the position of acting director general FIA; he denied requests for comments on the case. “It is better not to indulge in matters like this (Habib’s statement),” he said, “As it is an extremely sensitive matter and cannot be discussed with the media at any stage.”

A few months ago, Habib, in a wheelchair, appeared before a bench of the Supreme Court and testified that he had funded the PML-N leadership in 1990 on the directives of the Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) in order to ensure a win in the elections.

Habib added that Nawaz Sharif, Shahbaz Sharif and at least two dozen other politicians were funded by his Mehran Bank to win the elections against the PPP. He said he gave funds to then-army chief Mirza Aslam Baig as well. Then ISI chief general Asad Durrani testified before the apex court in 2013, confirming that the ISI was involved in the provision of such funds. “I do not care now who says what in this case,” Durrani said when approached for comments on the progress of the case.

Additionally, Chaudhary Sharif of Tulip Hotel has denied any direct or indirect role in the case. “I do not want to say much about Younis Habib or his statement as he is not worth mentioning for his treacherous nature,” Sharif said. “I believe this is why FIA officials did not contact me to record my statement.”

Speaking with The Express Tribune from Karachi, Younis Habib said he wanted the case of the Mehran Bank scandal to be forgotten. “I have nothing to say regarding my statement except to confirm that I met with a panel from the FIA.” He added, “For the purposes of the media, I will say this story is now over and it should not be commented on anymore.”

Published in The Express Tribune, February 20^th, 2014.