ISLAMABAD, December 25: Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry remarked on Tuesday that Zardari and Sharif family were running the world’s largest money laundering network.
Zardari and Nawaz ‘gangs’ have signed a charter of corruption. “The extent of corruption was so much that the debt shot up to Rs30 trillion in Nawaz’s tenure,” he said while addressing a press conference on Tuesday. The people of Sindh have suffered the most. The development funds went into Zardari’s accounts. In Punjab, Hussain and Hassan Nawaz got all the funds, he claimed.
“They looted the money of the people,” Fawad said, adding that their way of committing crimes was the same. They formed companies which were non-existent and laundered money from development funds.
On Nawaz Sharif’s conviction in Al Azizia reference, he said that the court just asked Nawaz to tell from where he got the money to set up Al Azizia and Hill Metal Establishment. Their [PML-N leaders] only response to the sentence was mudslinging. “They said so what if we engaged in corrupt practices, so have other people.”
In 2001, Nawaz’s declared assets worth Rs10 million. In the same year, they established Al Azizia Steel Mills. The court just wanted to know where they got the money from, Fawad explained.
“It’s our mandate to arrest thieves and hold people accountable,”
he said. He denied that accusations that government is dictating NAB’s actions. The accountability bureau didn’t arrest Nawaz and Maryam until there was a verdict on the references against them. Shehbaz was arrested because the evidence was being tampered with. NAB isn’t arresting people who are cooperating with it, Fawad remarked.
The judgement showed that Nawaz received 82% profit from the Al Azizia and Hill Metal companies.-Agencies
