LAHORE: Adviser to Prime Minister on Accountability and Interior Shahzad Akbar on Monday said that Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz president Shehbaz Sharif had tried to escape from accountability process as during his appearance in an accountability court on Monday in money laundering case pleaded for next hearing date on pretext of attending the National Assembly session.
Addressing a press conference here at 90 Shahrah-e-Quaid-e-Azam, Shahzad Akbar said that if Shehbaz Sharif was clear of money laundering charges from a London court, he should have present the evidences which became the base of his alleged clearance in money laundering allegations by London court in his today’s appearance in an accountability court.
He said that Shehbaz Sharif and his accomplices tried to distort the facts and figures to
befool the masses by projecting a narrative that London court had acquitted Shehbaz Sharif from money laundering charges, adding that Shehbaz Sharif was using delaying tactics to escape from accountability process.
Shahzad Akbar said that the case in which Shehbaz Sharif today appeared before an accountability court related to assets beyond known source of income was initiated in 1990 when he became a public office holder, adding that Shehbaz Sharif’s declared assets in 1990 were of Rs 2.1 million, Rs 14.8 million in 1998 and Shehbaz Sharif and his family’s declared assets were of Rs 21 million in 2003.
Hazma Shehbaz had declared the Shehbaz’s Sharif’s family assets as Rs 34.4 million
in 2005 in which he first time mentioned the Telegraphic Transfers (T.Ts), he added.
The Adviser said that assets of Shehbaz Sharif’s family were significantly increased by Rs 660 million as the source of income for declared assets was Rs 77 million which was 11 percent of total income, whereas the remaining income 89 percent came from telegraphic transfers which were presented by exchange companies not the banks, through forge documents which also had been proved in National Accountability Bureau (NAB)’s investigation.
Shahzad Akbar said that Shehbaz Sharif had started few companies, purchased two houses with a cost of Rs 115 million; one in Murree and other in DHA besides clearing tax payments of a land cruiser through forged or fake telegraphic transfers as a source of income. Salman Shehbaz and Hamza Shehbaz had accepted in written that “Manzoor Paparwala” was their real investor who invested in their businesses from London, he maintained.
The Adviser said that telegraphic transfers of Rs 181 million were directly transferred to the personal account of Hamza Shehbaz while Salman Shehbaz received telegraphic transfer of Rs 3 billion in which he had shown that he received telegraphic transfers of Rs 1.5 billion as loan from Mushtaq alias “Chini”, adding that Mushtaq alias “Chini” had also confessed money laundering for Hamza and Salman Shehbaz.
To a question, Shahzad Akbar said that the cases like Shehbaz Sharif’s family case were a challenge to the judiciary as every institution including parliament, government and judiciary should have to play its role to ensure transparency and accountability. He said that as per new NAB law, the accountability cases should be concluded within six months.
To another query, he said that courts should ensure case management besides adopting latest methods of recording testimonies and evidences so that the cases could be concluded in time. He said that Sharif family could not befool the people as the masses had been aware of Nawaz and Shehbaz Sharif’s corruption.
The Adviser said that accountability institutions including NAB and federal Investigation Agency (FIA) were putting efforts to finalize the investigation into the corruption charges so that the accused could meet their logical end, adding that Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government believed in accountability for all and similar standards for all in criminal justice system.
