Money laundering observed

Advisor to the Prime Minister on Accountability and Interior Barrister Shahzad Akbar on Saturday said a British judge in the preliminary hearing of defamation lawsuit against Daily Mail had observed that Shehbaz Sharif and his family were involved in money laundering of billions of rupees. The London court would set the seal that the Sharifs were corrupt as they would fail to produce any evidence in their favour, he said while addressing here a press conference. Shahzad Akbar also dared the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) president to file a libel case against him in London court so that he (Shahzad) could bring fore the evidence of their money laundering. Brushing aside the impression created by a section of the media that Shehbaz Sharif has won the defamation case against the Daily Mail, the advisor said the PML-N leaders were in the habit of distributing sweets without going through courts judgments. He said both Maryams (PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz and Secretary Information Maryam Aurangzeb) were ‘habitual liars’. Though the regular hearing of the libel case had not yet started, but they had claimed of winning the lawsuit, he added. The advisor said it was misreported in the media that Shehbaz has won the case. It was in fact the interpretation of the meaning of words “complained of” in the petition filed by Shehbaz by Justice Matthew Nicklin, who presided over the Queen’s Bench Division. The question of winning the case did not arise at the preliminary stage of hearing, he added. Journalist David Rose, who accused Shehbaz Sharif and his family of embezzling the funds given by the United Kindom’s Department for International Development (DFID) and then laundering the same to the UK, said in a tweet it was only the first stage of hearing of the defamation suit. The Daily Mail would present the available evidence in the next stage of hearing and then court would take the decision, he added. Shahzad Akbar said there was dearth of evidence against Shehbaz’s money laundering when he filed the defamation lawsuit last year. However, today dozens of proofs were available as a reference against him had been filed in the accountability court on their basis. The PML-N leader had even been indicted in the Rs 7 billion money laundering case and his bail plea was also rejected by the court, he added. According to the reference filed by the National Accountability Bureau, Shehbaz had purchased properties worth billions of rupees from the laundered money. His son-in-law Ali Imran had misappropriated Rs 131 million and Rs 499 million respectively in the same case.
Sohail Ali Khan
Islamabad