Abbasi points finger at Shahzad Akbar for Daily Mail story
Abbasi said that Shahbaz Sharif will be filing a law suit in the British court.
ISLAMABAD (Dunya News) – Former prime minister and Pakistan Muslim-League-Nawaz (PML-N) senior vice president Shahid Khaqan Abbasi on Monday again accused that Special Assistant to PM on Accountability Shahzad Akbar was behind the news story published in British newspaper Daily Mail.
Addressing a press conference in Islamabad on Monday, he said that the fund has nothing to do with former Punjab CM Shahbaz Sharif, adding that if they have, Prime Minister Imran Khan and Shahzad Akbar should provide evidence to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).
The PML-N vice president said that Naveed Ikram was serving in Punjab Power Company but was sacked by the leader of opposition in National Assembly for corruption. A total of Rs400 million had been recovered from him.
Abbasi further said that Shahbaz Sharif will be filing a law suit in British court, adding that the special assistant should tell how much money has been spent on foreign visits.
He said: “Punjab government had nothing to do with the funds of ERRA.”
Earlier, Daily Mail had exposed an alleged money laundering scandal of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) president and the Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly (NA) Shehbaz Sharif from the UK government aid for earthquake victims in Pakistan.
According to a confidential investigation report seen by Daily Mail, millions of pounds were transferred into the bank accounts of Shehbaz’s family members, including his wife, children and a son-in-law.
It reported stated to have interviewed key witnesses held on remand in jail, including a UK citizen Aftab Mehmood. Mehmood claimed that he had laundered millions on behalf of Shahbaz’s family from a nondescript office in Birmingham – without attracting suspicion from Britain’s financial regulators, who inspected his books regularly.
According to Daily Mail, investigators are convinced that some of the allegedly stolen money came from Department for International Development (DFID)-funded aid projects. For rehabilitating and rebuild lives of the poor, the DFID gave £54 million from UK taxpayers; and the legal documents allege that Shahbaz’s son-in-law received about £1 million from that fund.
Moreover, investigators had launched inquiries into alleged thefts from DFID-funded schemes to give poor women cash to lift them out of poverty and to provide healthcare for rural families, according to the publication.
Allegedly, stolen millions were laundered in Birmingham and then allegedly transferred to Shahbaz’s family’s accounts by UK branches of banks including Barclays and HSBC. Furthermore, it stated that self-confessed Birmingham money-launderer Aftab Mehmood told the MoS that he had his accounts audited every three months by Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs – who failed to notice anything was amiss.
