ISLAMABAD/SIALKOT - Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf leader and Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Youth Affairs Usman Dar appeared before National Accountability Bureau (NAB) team and provided evidence against former foreign and defence minister Khawaja Asif in money laundering case.

NAB Rawalpindi had issued a call-up notice to Usman Dar and directed him to appear before the NAB team on December 6 and provide record related to the foreign investment of Khawaja Asif and any other documents related to the case.

Talking to The Nation, Usman Dar said he has provided the record of Asif’s money laundering and his wife’s transactions in foreign accounts. He said Khawaja Family has business and bank accounts in different countries. He said he has also given the evidence of secret employment of the ex-minister with a foreign company to the NAB team.

Usman Dar had filed a complaint against Khawaja Asif in March and levelled money laundering allegations against him. He had also provided documents in this case. Dar had handed over details of business and accounts of Asif and his wife in UAE and the US.

Dar said in his complaint that Khawaj Asif had received Rs340 million in foreign remittances in 2010, Rs3.8 million in 2011 and Rs6.82 million in 2012 but he did not disclose these amounts in his income tax returns.

It mentioned that Asif received Rs15 million as dividend but he did not show the source of this dividend, even though he had admitted it in his returns. It said Asif held an account (6201853775) in the National Bank of Abu Dubai but he had concealed its details in his nomination papers in 2013.

Asif has admitted having a restaurant abroad and its ownership before the Lahore High Court in 2013, the complaint said. Dar has also attached details of Asif’s Iqama in his complaint and said he did not disclose his contract of foreign job in his nomination papers in 2013 and he earned Rs1.6 million per month through this job.

The anti-graft body had written letters to the UAE government and the FBR to get details of Asif’s accounts.

 

Poll ticket issue behind Dar-Khawaja old rivalry

 

The political rivalry between PML-N bigwig Khawaja Muhammad Asif and the Dars of Sialkot (Umer and Usman Dar) started during Gen Pervez Musharraf regime, when Kh Asif being MNA of PML-N had not recommended the name of exporter-turned-politician Imtiazuddin Dar (father of Umer and Usman Dar) as the PML-N candidate for the slot of Sialkot tehsil nazim.

However, Imtiazuddin Dar contested LG elections as an independent candidate and won Sialkot tehsil nazim seat. Later, he joined the then king’s party - PML-Q.

This step of not recommending the name of Imtiazuddin Dar created political differences between Khawaja Asif and the Dars of Sialkot, and they parted their political ways.

Later, after the demise of Imtiazuddin Dar, his sons Umer and Usman Dar, the exporters-turned-politicians started their political journey by taking active part in local politics. Both the real brothers later joined the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).

Dars, after joining the PTI, played active role in establishing Tehreek-e-Insaf in Sialkot politics and soon they became close political associates of PTI chief Imran Khan by donating generously to the party head for establishment of Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital.

Both Umer and his younger brother Usman Dar also actively participated in PTI’s 126 days sit-in in Islamabad against the PML-N government.

Usman Dar contested the 2013 and 2018 general elections as PTI candidate for Sialkot city’s National Assembly constituency, but both times, Kh Asif defeated him.

Later, Prime Minister Imran Khan appointed Usman Dar as the Chairman of Prime Minister’s Youth Development Programme. But, recently he has been given duties as special assistant to prime minister on youth affairs.

Giving political accolades to the Dars of Sialkot, PTI Chairman Imran Khan appointed Usman Dar’s elder brother Umer Dar as president of PTI Central Punjab as a reward for his close association with PTI and even with Imran Khan as well.

However, the PTI has not been successful in winning even a single seat out of five seats of the National Assembly from Sialkot district under the leadership of Dar brothers in July 25,2018 general elections. The PTI managed to win a single seat out of total 11 seats of the Punjab Assembly in Sialkot district during 2018 general elections.