‘Ex-govt misled British NCA over £190m recovery’

ISLAMABAD: SAPM on Accountability Irfan Qadir on Wednesday said the PTI gov-ernment mislead the UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA) on the repatriation of £190m to Pakistan.
Addressing a presser, he said the previous government cunningly used the Supreme Court’s bank account [for repatriating pubic money]. “The NCA misunderstood that the money was being repatri-ated to the country’s exchequer,” he added.
He went on to say that the £190m scandal was getting traction these days, adding that the UK’s Na-tional Crime Agency (NCA) had frozen some accounts in England.
“Zero-tolerance policy needs to be adopted against those who looted public money,” he added. It was being projected that stolen money was to be repatriated to the country, he said.
Mr Qadir continued by saying that the federal cabinet approved the repatriation on Dec 2, 2019, but the money was not repatriated to the national exchequer. “It should be investigated why the SC did not review it,” he added.
He said the PTI government did not share the State Bank of Pakistan’s bank account with the UK government, adding that the British agencies were tricked. “The money was not received by the SBP but by some people,” he alleged.
There was no example of such “grand corruption”, he said, adding that a simple thing was being complicated. “Our authorities should hold such people accountable,” he added.
“I trust incumbent NAB chairman Lt Gen (retd) Nazir Ahmad Butt,” he said.
The SAPM went on to say that it was a matter of minutes, adding that Mr Khan, his wife, and Zulfi Bukhari made part of it. “The case is before everyone,” he added.
Earlier, as PTI chief Imran Khan failed to appear before the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), the NAB on Wednesday decided to summon him again in the £190m case.
The accountability watchdog termed Mr Khan’s reply “unsatisfactory” and decided to summon him. The NAB will issue the notice shortly. –Agencies