ISLAMABAD - PTI Chairman Imran Khan on Friday levelled fresh allegations of corruption against the Sharif family, saying they were making efforts to have some backdoor settlement for a safe exit in corruption cases.
Addressing a press conference here, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf leader also alleged that former finance minister Ishaq Dar was a front-man for the ruling family as he and his children looked after a number of their companies in Dubai.
Imran Khan cast a doubt on the recent visit of the Punjab Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif to Saudi Arabia, where the ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif is also likely to join him.
He said that efforts were on to sign another NRO [national reconciliation ordinance] — a reference to the deal signed by slain PPP leader Benazir Bhutto with then president Pervez Musharraf that paved way for her return to Pakistan. The apex court had later declared this political agreement illegal and unconstitutional.
Khan said that the PTI would resist if the Sharif family made any underhand deal to “save themselves from corruption cases”, claiming that people were now ready for agitation.
He said the Sharifs perhaps were requesting the Saudi royal family to help them save their skin. “They [Sharifs] will not survive [in corruption cases] even if they sought US President Donald Trump’s help to rescue them,” he added.
“Nawaz Sharif says that he is name of an ideology, [yes, he’s right, but] this ideology is [ideology of] corruption,” he said.
‘Fresh evidence’
PTI chief claimed that his party had in its possession some new evidence of Sharif family’s corruption.
He said Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, Nawaz Sharif, his younger brother Shehbaz Sharif and Ishaq Dar were hand in glove in misappropriations and corruption.
Khan said that Dar came from a very humble background but he turned billionaire after he became a front-man for the Sharif family.
He claimed that Dar’s sons owned two towers in Dubai with an estimated value of Rs20 billion, and they also own 11 companies there. “Only a single company—HDS Estates Limited—owned by Dar family has 52 villas in Dubai,” he claimed.
“We have details and documents, which show that these companies have money pouring into them from Switzerland, Oman, United Kingdom and Turkey,” the PTI chairman claimed. “[And] this is just the tip of the iceberg.”
PTI chairman said that there was inflow of 60 million Dirhams into the accounts of those companies from Switzerland and another 11 million Dirhams from another country.
He alleged that those companies and their businesses were actually a joint venture of the Sharifs and Dars. But, Sharifs were the real big players in that business as Dar was actually more of a front-man than owner, he suggested.
There is more money flowing in these companies from other parts of the world which shows that they have worldwide business, Khan said.
He said that according to the tax record submitted before the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) in Panama Papers case, Dar did not file any income tax return from 1981 to 2002.
Dar showed his assets valued at Rs9.1 million in 2007, and from 2007 to 2013 his assets increased 800 times, he added.
"Why do you think PM Abbasi gave Dar his own plane to leave the country. This was because they were all afraid that he was going to reveal details of money laundering [to NAB] as he did before," Khan claimed.
He questioned why did former finance minister had only been sent on leave and not sacked. He then answered himself, “This is because Dar knows about the shady LNG deal signed by PM Abbasi with Qatar.”
“Why is the prime minister not revealing the details of $15 billion LNG deal to the parliament?” he asked. He further asked how a deal made with public money could be confidential.
They [Sharifs, Dar, Abbasi] all received kickbacks, he alleged.
Khan said that Saeed Shekih was the front-man for Sharif family in the US and Saifur Rehman in Qatar.
He further said that iqama [of Nawaz Shairf] was a means to launder money.
“Look [the] foreign minister [too] is holding portfolio of legal consultant in Dubai… We are not up against politicians but a mafia,” the PTI chief said.
He reiterated his stance that the PTI would pursue Hudaibiya Paper Mills case in the Supreme Court.
Khan went on to say that Nawaz Sharif was pressurising the judiciary after launching attacks on it out of fear of conviction in corruption cases and the revelation of money laundering in Switzerland and other countries.
"Why the judiciary is taking pressure from Sharif family. I would like to say either we should get rid of the contempt of court law or apply it on everyone equally,” he said, asking if that particular law was only for the common man.
He said that judges in the past used to give judgments on the phone calls of Sharif family and he named late chief justice of Pakistan Naseem Hasan Shah, Justice (r) Rafique Tarar and Justice (r) Abdul Qayyum in this regard.
Imran Khan said that he was waiting for the day when Nawaz Sharif would start a movement and taunted that perhaps the former PM had gone to Saudi Arabia to start a movement from there.
Rejecting the impression that military establishment was the main supporter of the PTI, he said that it was the PML-N leadership who got money from the Inter-Services Intelligence in Mehran Bank Scandal and it was the PML-N who got support from an army brigadier in 2013 elections to declare their candidate winner.
“Now they [Sharifs] have objection that military did not come forward to save them. They wanted to damage the judiciary and the army,” PTI chief said.
Replying to a question about giving ticket to the son of party leader Jahangir Tareen in Lodhran by-election, he said that Tareen’s son was the best available candidate and this was not promoting dynastic politics.
Imran claims ‘fresh evidence’ against Sharifs
