Pakistan government forms body to probe previous regime's 50 billion graft case

Pakistan Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah on Tuesday said that the cabinet has set up a subcommittee to investigate an out-of-court settlement made of over Rs 50 billion in a money laundering case by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf-led government.

Pakistan Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah on Tuesday said that the cabinet has set up a subcommittee to investigate an out-of-court settlement made of over Rs 50 billion in a money laundering case by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf-led government. Briefing the media after the cabinet meeting, Sanaullah said that the documents shown by the PTI Chief and former Prime minister Imran Khan for approval were all passed through the cabinet without informing the members, The Express Tribune reported.

Pakistan Interior Minister claimed that the funds worth Rs 50 billion under a private housing scheme were transferred to the UK illegally which was later traced by the authorities and was confiscated by the UK's National Crime Agency. Sanaullah further claimed that the former PM had tasked Mirza Shehzad Akbar, Khan's aide on accountability, to resolve the matter. Akbar settled the entire case, while the Rs50billion, was state property and belonged to the national treasury but was adjusted against the housing society's liability.

While Minister of State for Petroleum Senator Musadik Malik said that the "plundered money" that was caught in the UK should have been returned to the national exchequer; however, it was gifted to one who was actually fined. Malik further said that money was caught under the Economic Crimes Act, according to which embezzled money should be returned to the country it belongs to and the out-of-court settlement came at that time when this case was being heard.

However, Malik pointed out that the one who represented Pakistan in the settlement was still a mystery and further added that the country could only be represented by the attorney general of Pakistan or the law ministry, reported The Express Tribune. Earlier, it was reported that Imran Khan, his wife Bushra Bibi and her friend Farah Gogi made "billions" under the tenure of the PTI government.

"It started in 2019 when Imran Khan gave a relief worth Pakistani rupees 320 million to Ahsan Jamil Gujjar - Farah's husband - under an amnesty scheme," PML-N leader Atta Ullah Tarar said during a press conference. The Express Tribune quoting Tarar reported that the former Prime Minister gave the relief due to his personal relations and friendship between Bushra and Farah.

Regarding this, he also played an audio tape -- purportedly a conversation between a business tycoon and his daughter, revealing how Farah 'demanded a gift' for the ex-first lady. During the conversation, the woman said to her father that Farah Gogi allegedly demanded a precious diamond as a gift for the ex-first lady in return for "removing locks" on a project site and withdrawing a report against her father, The Tribune reported. (ANI)

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