Imran abusing public funds to sow chaos: Rashid

The minister hoped that shareholders in the JDW Sugar Mills would raise their voice about the illegal act

ISLAMABAD: Federal Information Minister Senator Pervaiz Rashid said on Sunday that PTI chairman Imran Khan cannot end thievery from Pakistan as he is running his political campaign with money stolen from a public limited company.

Addressing a news conference on Sunday, the minister alleged that Imran for the last two to three years has been using a plane owned by JDW Sugar Mills — in which PTI Secretary General Jehangir Tareen holds 29.76% shares.

“Since 70.24% of the company’s shares are held by financial institutions and ordinary shareholders, the plane is not Tareen’s property,” he said. Imran is using the aircraft for political purposes and for creating chaos and disunity in the country, he alleged. “This is an illegal act as according to the law a public limited company cannot contribute funds for politics.”

The minister said that on the one hand Imran spoke about lawlessness and misuse of public money, while, on the other hand, he himself was abusing funds of a public limited company, which was against the spirit of his party’s charter.

The chartered accountant of the company in its financial report mentioned that in 2012, the expenses incurred on maintenance, oil and landing charges of the plane were not shown in the accounts of JDW Sugar Mills, registered at the Karachi Stock Exchange.

This huge expenditure on the plane was concealed, however, in the next year’s report an expenditure of Rs40 million was shown as ‘other expenses’ so that shareholders cannot raise questions about this irregularity, he said, adding that the company could be fined and its director, Jehangir Tareen, could be sentenced to two years in jail for this crime.

The minister said the plane could be used by Imran only if he paid for it himself or through his party’s funds and not from public money. “It is a responsibility of the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) to take action against such irregularities,” he added.

Rashid asked Imran to answer as to why he was using public money to run party campaign. “Imran is living a lavish lifestyle with huge motorcades of expensive vehicles,” he claimed. He hoped that shareholders in the JDW Sugar Mills would raise their voice about the illegal act.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 24^th, 2014.