ISLAMABAD, Jan 17 (APP): Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Professor Ahsan Iqbal on Friday said the court decision in the £190 million (around Rs 64 billion) corruption case, which he called the ‘biggest graft case’ in the political history of Pakistan, had exposed the real face of the PTI founder and his spouse.
“It is the biggest corruption case in the political history of Pakistan, perhaps in South Asia, which ended in conviction following clear documented evidence and the court trial,” he said while addressing a news conference.
He remarked on how strange it was that the PTI founder hoodwinked and mustered public support in the name of Tehreek-e-Insaf (a justice movement ) to gain get into the power corridors; and looted the public exchequer by handing over the recovered £190 million to Malik Riaz, a property tycoon.
Elaborating, the minister said the National Crime Agency (NCA) of Britain had recovered the laundered money from the property tycoon, which was meant to be deposited in the national exchequer but was instead transferred into an account intended to deposit the fine imposed by the apex court on Bahria Town as part of a settlement in a land occupation case.
He said the recovered amount was used by the PTI government to pay the court fine, effectively converting the laundered money into white money. In exchange, the PTI founder and his spouse received land and jewelry, added.
“To cover up this corruption, they staged a drama by setting up a university,” he said, adding that no charitable work could be justified if it was carried out with looted and plundered money.
Ahsan Iqbal also recalled that a leading British newspaper, The Financial Times, had uncovered that the PTI founder gave the Shaukat Khanum hospital’s charity fund to his friend Naqvi for political purposes and election campaigning. “The news story has not been denied or challenged so far by the PTI, which is tantamount to accepting it as true,” he added.
In contrast, the minister pointed out that the PTI government’s SAPM on Accountability Shehzad Akbar managed to publish a story in the British newspaper Daily Mail against Shehbaz Sharif, which was later challenged in the UK court, clearing the PML-N leader.
With the recovered money from the NCA, the minister said at least six internationally recognized universities, thousands of schools and hundreds of medical dispensaries could have been established, in addition to awarding scholarships to thousands of students.
He urged the nation, especially the youth and the PTI supporters who were disappointed after seeing the real face of the PTI founder, to unite and become part of the country’s ‘URAAN PAKISTAN’ plan to transform the country into one of the leading economies of the 21st century.
