Staff Report
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan’s Special Assistant on Accountability Shahzad Akbar said on Wednesday concrete evidence is available to corroborate various charges against Opposition Leader Shehbaz Sharif.
Speaking at a presser, he claimed the Shehbaz family’s assets grew exponentially over a decade and the main reason behind the growth was TTs (telegraphic transfers). He added the PML-N president, when confronted by the corruption watchdog, said he was not responsible for financial matters involving his children.
His press conference followed on the heels of tweets by the opposition leader in which he took aim at Prime Minister Imran Khan, saying he has not presented a single piece of evidence to substantiate charges levelled against him in a court.
Shahzad Akbar further said Shehbaz Sharif made his sons’ friends frontmen to siphon off government funds and then rewarded them with lucrative posts at the CM House. How can the PML-N president deny involving his children in financial wrongdoings, he questioned.
He said there was a network of “front companies” set up by Shehbaz in names of his employees.
Even a firm was set up in the name of a peon and a sum of Rs1.5 billion was transferred into its accounts, he alleged. Rs480 million was transacted into an account of the company registered under the name of a Ramazan Sugar Mills employee. The government’s point man on accountability said Rs17.4 billion black money was siphoned off by setting up such companies. PML-N president and Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif on Wednesday took aim at Prime Minister Imran Khan, saying he has not presented a single piece of evidence to substantiate charges levelled against him in a court.
“IK accused me of offering him a bribe Rs.10 billion to b silent in Panama case/Javed Sadiq as frontman. Then it was said I siphoned off money from Multan Metro, a baseless charge rejected by Chinese govt. Even to this day, he has not presented a single piece of evidence in court,” he tweeted. The PML-N leader accused the premier of deploying “poor old tactics of propaganda on media to save their own gross incompetence & corrupt practices in sugar/wheat/medicines/Peshawar BRT.”
He said no propaganda can cover up the PTI government’s “poor governance & incompetence”.
