By Ajmal Khan Yousafzai
ISLAMABAD: The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) recovered seven billion rupees in the past one year, said Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Accountability Shahzad Akbar, responding to allegations from the PML-N, on Friday.
The prime minister’s aide was conducting a press conference where he said that the PML-N’s Marriyum Aurangzeb had asked questions about the government’s ARU in the parliament.
“Marriyum asked about what the ARU had done to bring back looted wealth which was stashed abroad,” he said. “Critics need to understand how the ARU works.” Akbar said that those who had remained in power since the past 35 years had illegally occupied public lands. He said that the opposition was creating noise over the recovery of government land. Akbar also spoke about the performance of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA). “The FIA has recovered Rs7 billion in the past one year,” he said.
Akbar alleged that apart from former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and Shehbaz, the ‘B team’ of the PML-N was also involved in corruption. He said that the incumbent government replied to the questions and criticism it received but its predecessors did not. “Those who were in power before us did not bother answering questions,” he said. “Even Marriyum said that this government is quick to give a response.”
Akbar said that the Anti-Corruption Punjab had recovered land worth Rs129 billion. He said that the government had spent Rs10.3 million on the ARU.
“Marriyum should stop misleading the nation with false claims,” he said.
He said that when Shehbaz’s son Hamza is questioned, he tells authorities to ask questions from his brother, Salman. He said that the government was asked about various questions and it provided answers to them.
“We were asked about the money that was spent on overseas trips,” he said. “We gave them the list of expenditures that were incurred.”
Akbar alleged that the PML-N had laundered money in the past through ‘cash boys’.
“Who were Masroor Anwar and Shoaib cash boys?” he asked. He said that it had been several days and neither Shehbaz nor anyone from the PML-N had responded to his 18 questions. Akbar spoke about the recent settlement between a Pakistani citizen and the National Crime Agency. “The NCA has transferred £190m to the government of Pakistan,” he said. “The NCA’s press release has said that it was a civil suit and there was no criminal element,” he added.
