ISLAMABAD    -  The ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Monday told the Senate that the government had to make payment of $29 million in damages to the asset recovery firm Broadsheet LLC due to the deal made by the then General (retd) Pervez Musharraf regime with PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif in December 2000.

The government also said that then PPP government had made a wrong payment of $1.5 million to a “wrong firm” in 2008 and all proceedings of the arbitration in Broadsheet case were held in UK during the last two governments of PPP and PML-N, both the opposition parties.

Responding to the criticism of opposition about the payment made by government to Broadsheet LLC, Adviser to the Prime Minister on Accountability Shahzad Akbar told the house that the arbitrator in London held guilty the then government of Pakistan for making a deal with Nawaz Sharif in December 2000 which allowed him to live in self-exile in Saudi Arabia.

“Neither we are saying this nor any JIT (Joint Investigation Team) says this, but (the judgement of) an arbitrator in London is saying this which has been validated by a high court in London,” the adviser said while quoting the judgement. He said that the arbitrator ruled that the Broadsheet suffered the loss of its honest earning as a result of this deal.

Secondly, he said that quantum decision of the arbitrator has two parts in which details of the liability, that has been fixed, have been given. In first part, it fixed $100 million as 20 percent share of Boardsheet for recovering assets of Shaun Group of worth $48760, Lakhani Group $25000, Fouzi Kazmi $85000, General (retd) Zahid Ali Akbar $381,000, former chief minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao $210,000 and Ansari’s assets of worth $180,000,  and $158000. 

The second part of liability award, out of total $21.5 million, was fixed for $1.5 million for recovering Avenfield properties of Sharif family, Shahzad said adding that other $19 million liability was fixed for recovering Sharif family’s other assets. The total liability was $21.5 million and government had to pay the remaining amount, out of total $29 million, in the form of interest money due to the pendency of the matter, he also said. “We have to pay $20.5 million due to assets of Sharif family out of the total $21. 5 million liability.”

He said that PTI government had made this payment in December 31, 2020 because no appellant forum had been left and another $5000 in the form of interest money had been imposed on Pakistan on daily basis.

The adviser further said that Sir Anthony Evans judgement said that it had conducted forensic of the JIT report and the Sharif family’s ill-gotten money has been estimated of worth $820 million. The arbitrator did not fix the liability on the basis of this $820 million otherwise Broadsheet was demanding $160 million as its 20 percent share on the basis of this amount, he added.

Earlier, Parliamentary Leader of the PPP in the House Senator Sherry Rehman taking part in the debate questioned about $29 million payment made by the government. She also questioned why the government has paid $1.5 million dollars to an unauthorized individual and his fake firm in the case. “Is the government sleeping or it just doesn’t care?”  

Sherry further said that Broadsheet’s owner Kaveh Moussavi has said that he had shared with the adviser Shahzad Akbar information about $1 billion money laundering by an influential person in Pakistan. “Where is the inquiry over this?” she asked.

PML-N Senator Javed Abbasi demanded of the Chairman Senate Muhammad Sadiq Sanjrani to summon Committee of the Whole on the Broadsheet scandal to unveil the truth as a blame game both from treasury and opposition was under way.

Information Minister Shibli Faraz agreed with Abbasi and said that a threadbare discussion on the case should be held so that the nation would know who was behind that?