Islamabad (December 24, 218): Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry said the “real face of Nawaz Sharif has been unmasked today”, referring to the judgement by an accountability court earlier in the day against the ousted premier in the Al-Azizia Steel Mills corruption reference.
The court handed a seven-year jail sentence to Nawaz Sharif and ordered that his properties be seized.
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Chaudhry was speaking to the media alongside Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Accountability Shahzad Akbar.
The information minister said that the people who are still defending Nawaz Sharif should be ashamed of themselves because the money involved in the scam belongs to the people of Pakistan.
“As per the NAB law, if a person is unable to justify the sources of his earnings then that amount is considered as corruption,” he said, adding that Nawaz Sharif was unable to provide money trail for his assets, therefore, he was sentenced to seven years in prison.
Shahzad Akbar also addressed the press conference and briefed the media persons about the findings of the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) report in the ongoing ‘fake’ accounts case against former president Asif Ali Zardari and his sister Faryal Talpur.
“The JIT should be commended for the way in which it has unearthed the facts,” Akbar said.
The premier’s assistant said, “The JIT report has revealed the presence of a ‘Zardari system’ functioning across Sindh to facilitate corruption through fake accounts.”
Talking about the contents of the JIT report, Akbar said a separate chapter has been dedicated to Summit Bank which was established to conceal corruption.
The JIT’s findings linked the fake bank accounts to Zardari, claiming that the PPP-Parliamentarians president’s personal expenses were also paid through the accounts’ funds.
Earlier in the day, the Supreme Court banned the trading and transfers of the properties of the Zardari Group, Bahria Town and Omni Group which are mentioned in a report submitted by the JIT probing the fake bank accounts case.
The report stated that payments for the upkeep of Bilawal House’s pets and for 28 sacrificial goats were also made through the said fake bank accounts.
Furthermore, the JIT report claimed that the expenses of the Zardari family’s residences in both Karachi and Lahore — commonly known as Bilawal House — were paid through fake bank accounts.
Earlier, Former Premier Nawaz Sharif was given seven years of jail time in Al-Azizia Reference Case. Although, Accountability Court acquitted Nawaz Sharif in Flagship Investment Reference.
Cout has also fined Rs. 1.5 Billion in Al-Azizia Steel Mills Case.
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In a short verdict announced today, the court said there was concrete evidence against the former premier in the Al-Azizia reference, and that he was unable to provide a money trail in the case.
There was not enough evidence to convict Nawaz in the Flagship reference, thus he has been acquitted, the decision read.
Nawaz was taken into custody from the court premises following the verdict, after which he is expected to be taken to jail.
The former premier requested that he be shifted to Kot Lakhpat Jail, Lahore instead of Adiala Jail, which was granted by the court.
Accountability Court II Judge Arshad Malik announced the verdict in the corruption references against the Sharif family, after reserving the decision last week.
UK-based Flagship Investment Limited
The charge against the family is that Hassan Nawaz, the former premier’s youngest son, set up an investment firm in 2001, with an office registered in the United Kingdom. At the time he was 25-years-old.
Earlier this month, during a hearing, the NAB stated that Nawaz Sharif even received an amount of 0.78 million AED from the investment firm that he claims to have no stake in.
The accountability court had to determine how and from where did Hasan get the funds to set up the investment firm?
Al-Azizia Steel Mills
Hussain Nawaz Sharif, the former prime minister’s elder son, claims that he received a sum of $5.4 million from his grandfather to establish the steel conglomerate in Saudi Arabia.
The payment was made by a Qatari royal on the request of the elder Sharif. Thereafter, scrap machinery was transported from their Ahli Steel Mills in Dubai to Jeddah to establish Al-Azizia in 2001.
The JIT constituted to investigate the graft allegations insist that the real owner of the mills was Nawaz Sharif, and it was being operated by his son on his behalf. Hussain was 29-years-old at the time.
The JIT also held that Nawaz Sharif received 97 per cent profit as ‘gifts’ from Hill Metals Establishment, another company established by Hussain Nawaz Sharif in 2005, in Saudi Arabia.
Of the amount, Nawaz Sharif transferred 77 per cent to his daughter, Maryam Nawaz Sharif. (Maryam is not accused in this reference).
Here as well, the NAB claims that since Sharif received a large profit from Hussain’s companies, he is the real owner and not his son.
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