LAHORE - Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif on Wednesday grilled National Accountability Bureau (NAB) for enlisting the name of his family among the bank loan defaulters.
“Our family has paid Rs 5.227 billion loans, which includes up-to-date markup and cost of funds besides the principal amount, to the banks which have also issued clearance certificate in respect of it,” the chief minister told a press conference at Model Town.
The NAB on Tuesday presented to the Supreme Court a list of 150 mega corruption cases against high-profile figures, including Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, stating they were defaulters of bank loans obtained for their family concern, M/s Ittefaq Foundries (private) Limited.
The chief minister made it clear that his family was not defaulter of the loans nor did they ever get the loans written off and obtained any concession. He questioned why NAB does not act against those who obtained huge loans and got them waived through the SRO 29 introduced by former military dictator Pervez Musharraf to pave way for his favourites to contest the polls. Shahbaz Sharif said he is ready to clarify his position on the loans in question before the Supreme Court if it directed him to appear. He said Musharraf, during their forced exile, framed a reference against them to victimise them politically, but as the reference was devoid of any substance, the court quashed it. He said: “We are not like those who devoured billions of rupees of the public money.
The chief minister further said the National Bank of Pakistan in November last wrote to the NAB that as no amount was outstanding against the Sharif family, the reference against them be shelved. He said if NAB was so sincere in recovering the public money, it should urge the SC to scrap the said SRO and catch those who swallowed the public money by getting the loans waived and committed a heinous crime. These people need to be handcuffed and shackled, he observed.
Replying to a question on the NAB efficiency, the chief minister said he would talk on this subject later. Now when the NAB has conjured up a closed transaction (about Sharifs), he would not leave the matter midway and take it to its logical conclusion, he remarked. He recalled that in Chiniot a dacoity of billions was going to take place with the natural resources and when the court asked the NAB to act, it declined to take action.
To a question that road costing Rs 13omillion was constructed on the Raiwind farms, he said the road was not aimed at benefitting their family only and said it was a public path on either side of which people of every class lived and not an inch of the road was inside their Raiwind farms. Both Musharraf and Zardari had probed the matter and failed to prove the allegation against them. When asked he has announced to hold Asif Ali Zardari accountable for his corruption in power, but apologised to the former president, the chief minister said his apology was for bitterness in his words against Zardari.
When asked if the NAB report indicates a soft coup against the government, Shahbaz Sharif said a soft revolution against the corrupt is a must otherwise a bloody one would happen. He also supported a ruthless accountability.