Sharif family paid Rs5.2 billion debt, never asked banks to write-off loans: Shahbaz

Punjab CM says his family was politically victimised by former president Pervez Musharraf


Web Desk July 08, 2015
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LAHORE: Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif on Wednesday claimed that the inclusion of PM Nawaz and himself in a 35-page report on 150 mega scams by the National Accountability Bureau was "erroneous and unjust".

“We (Nawaz and I) are not loan defaulters,” said Shahbaz while addressing a news conference in Lahore, adding that they had never asked any bank to waive off their loans .

Read: 150 mega scams: Sharif brothers, Zardari feature in NAB report

“We never asked any bank – private or public to waive our loans off,” Shahbaz added.

The chief minister in turn blamed former President Pervez Musharraf for levelling the Ittefaq Foundry case against him and his brother, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, labelling it as a case of ‘political victimisation’.

“Ittefaq Foundry case was made by Musharraf to politically victimise us,” he said, adding that they were “forced to live in exile” as a result.

Shahbaz stressed that the brothers’ assets were always in the banks adding that they returned all the money that they borrowed.

“Our assets were in the banks. We have returned each and every penny to them,” he said.

The chief minister told reporters that the Sharif brothers have paid Rs5.2 billion in debts and they never wrote to banks asking to waive their loans off.

Read: For accountability - NAB raids ‘den of corruption’

“It was Musharraf who wrote to banks to waive off loans for his blue-eyed people,” Shahbaz said.

Chaudhry Shujaat to scam allegations

President of Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) Chaudhry Shujaat later on Wednesday responded to the allegations made by NAB against him.

Shujaat said that he should be the first person to be tried for the allegations. “I am not afraid of the truth,” he said.

COMMENTS (24)

Lolz | 8 years ago | Reply Is this the same chief minister who vowed to end load-shedding in 6 months?
S.R.H. Hashmi | 8 years ago | Reply Punjab Chief Minister claims that the inclusion of Sharif Brothers in the list of 150 mega scams is erroneous and unjust. And to support his claim, he states that Sharif Brothers repaid all their loans in full and never asked any bank to write these off. However, Shahbaz Sharif’s very claim that the Sharif Brothers repaid their loans of Rs.5.2 billion in full raises certain questions. Just how long did they take to repay the loans and did they pay the interest as well or just the principal. And taking loans of Rs. 5.2 billion means they must be in business in a big way. And with these huge business interests, was it in order for them to enter politics and hold most influential state offices. Wasn’t there a clear case of conflict of interest? They were sued in UK for a loan which was claimed to have been paid by a friend. Surely, that raises suspicions and not entirely without justification. When Nawaz Sharif went to China to sign contracts/MOUs, his sons also joined him there. Is Nawaz Sharif, in his official capacity as the Prime Minister of Pakistan, helping his sons by promoting their business? Could it be that some of the businesses claimed to be those of his sons are actually Nawaz Sharif’s own, which his sons are managing purely as his nominee? In any case, where did the sons get these massive resources to run their businesses. Among various questions raised about MCB Bank’s privatisation, one is that part of the purchase price was paid from the resources of the bank. And while on the subject of privatisation, on one side, Sharif Brothers claim that it is no part of the government responsibilities to run the businesses, and on these grounds even profitable businesses which earn government dividends are being privatized. Now, are these businesses being offered to the nominees of Sharif Brothers in disguise? And when government is trying to get rid of loss-making state owned entities, what is the point in offering massively over-priced Metro bus schemes which require huge subsidies to meet their expense, which subsidies will only increase with times. And even if this service was considered to be an urgent need, just basic service could have been offered instead of this state-of-the-art service which requires huge subsidies and where artificially reduced fare distorts the market. And the recent rains have exposed glaring faults in the system. The list is by no means exhaustive. Karachi
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