Not a single penny of corruption surfaced in PML-N tenure: Ishaq Dar

NAB opposes acquittal pleas of co-accused in reference against Dar

ISLAMABAD, July 3 (APP): Finance Minister Ishaq Dar Monday said
the government of Pakistan Muslim League(N) did not commit a single
penny of corruption in its present tenure of four years.
Speaking after appearing before the Joint Investigation Team
(JIT), he said nobody could point out a single scam during his four
tenures as minister and during three tenures of Nawaz Sharif as
Prime Minister.
Ishaq quoted former chairman of National Accountability Bureau
(NAB) Gen (r) Amjad as saying that he could not find a single rupee
of irregularity in the ministry headed by him as all the affairs
were conducted with transparency.
He said he answered all the questions asked by the JIT
regarding Panama Paper Leaks.
He clarified that he only got one notice from the JIT and it was
wrong to say that he was summoned twice but failed to appear.
Ishaq Dar said the name of Nawaz Sharif was not even mentioned
in Panama Papers or any other company, adding many of those who were
linked to Panama Papers, were doing politics on the issue and were
continuing the unending drama.
He said Pervez Musharraf filed references against Sharif
family on the basis of malafide, lies and use of force. “This drama
has now continued for 23 years.”
He recalled that on February 14, 2000, Musharraf regime filed
a reference in a single day showing unholy haste.
Similarly, during the cases of former chief justice Iftikhar
Chaudhry and the Steel Mills in 2006, judges of the Supreme Court
made the same observation that the cases were filed in unholy haste.
A nine-member bench of the Supreme Court rubbished the steel mills
case due to the same reason.

Finance Minister Ishaq Dar said the confessional statement
attributed to him was nothing but trash.
He said 13 different judges of the Supreme Court of Pakistan
had stated that kind of forced confessional statement
attributed to him had no evidentiary value.
One of the judges observed that ‘pakoras’ could be sold in
such papers, he remarked.
He said the opposition had no case against Nawaz Sharif and it
only tried to damage the business of Sharif family.
Persons related to other political parties had offshore
companies but nobody was talking about them, he added.
Ishaq Dar was of the view that in no corner of the world,
petitions like Panama Papers were filed in the courts.
It seemed that there were two laws in the country and sons of
the Prime Minister were being treated differently, he added.
He said Maryam Nawaz Sharif, was daughter of the nation,
and it would have been better if she was only sent a questionnaire
and was not called in person by the JIT.
He said he would not like if the sisters of Imran Khan, who
were also related to his companies were called for questioning.
Ishaq Dar said four years back, it was said the country was
about to default and it would not be able to make its payments.
He said now, under the leadership of Prime Minister Muhammad
Nawaz Sharif, Pakistan was poised to joining the club of leading
economies of G20 by 2030.
As Pakistan would continue with the present growth trajectory
it would leave behind, South Korea, Italy and Canada in coming
years, he added.

Ishaq Dar said during the previous tenures of Ghulam Ishaq
Dar, Benazir Bhutto and Pervez Musharraf, trials were held against
Sharif family but no wrongdoing was found.
Referring to some of the close associates of Imran Khan, he
said ATMs of Imran Khan were sending money abroad.
He said Imran Khan was doing politics of lies and the case in
California was enough to show his character.
Ishaq Dar said his sons had filed a suit of damages of Rs five
billion against Imran Khan.
He severely criticised Imran Khan and called him a coward, who
had destroyed the youth of Pakistan.
He said Imran Khan had accumulated wealth from unknown sources
and was now three times richer than him.
“When I came to know that Imran Khan gambled on Zakat money I
lost trust in him,” he added.
He said Imran Khan could not overcome the election defeat in
2013 and in the last four years staged sit-ins and threatened to
lock down Islamabad.
He said Pakistan was at a take off stage but there were
internal and external conspiracies to stop it from making progress.
He said there was no tempering in the documents of Securities
and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP).

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