-Shahzad Akbar says Tareen will not be given an NRO
-Reaffirms govt’s resolve to curb corruption
-Aims for crystal transparency
By Uzma Zafar
ISLAMABAD: Adviser to Prime Minister on Interior and Accountability Shahzad Akbar maintained that mafia of any kind will not escape accountability and that even former Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf general secretary Jahangir Tareen and his son, Ali Tareen, will not be given an NRO.
Talking to media persons in Lahore, the adviser said that the two would be prosecuted in accordance with the law, adding: “The attempts for NROs are no secret, but we are not going to give them to anyone.”
“There will be no favouritism in this and Tareen will be prosecuted as per the law.”
Referring to the inquiry commission’s report on the sugar scandal, Akbar stressed that the government “made public despite the involvement of our own member.”
In this regard, he added, an amount of more than Rs300 million was frozen. An expeditious investigation on the sugar scandal is underway, the PM’s aide claimed. The forces in the market are involved in illegal profiteering, the adviser said. He added that the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) and the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) have “been provided with evidences with respect to action against such illegal market elements.”
Earlier in the day, a banking court approved the interim bail of JDW Sugar Mills official Rana Naseem in the case pertaining to money laundering through Jahangir Tareen’s company. The court granted bail to Rana Naseem against two surety bonds worth Rs50,000 each. Judge Ameer Muhammad Khan barred FIA from arresting the suspect. Rana Naseem maintained in his petition that the money laundering inquiry against him is unjustified.
A day earlier, FIA had booked PTI leader JahangirKhan Tareen, his son Ali Tareen, son-in-law and other members of the family in two cases for alleged financial embezzlement and sugar scandal. The FIA investigation team had registered the first case of alleged fraud of Rs3.14 billion on March 22 against them. The first information report (FIR) had stated that Jahangir Tareen allegedly transferred illegal shares worth billions of rupees to Farooqi Pulp Mills Limited (FPML), which is owned by his son and close relatives.
It had said that the transfers, especially after 2011-12, were “patently fraudulent investments which ultimately translated into personal gains” for Jahangir’s family. Some Rs3 billion were invested and laundered through the same factory. The FIR had outlined when and how FPML was made back in 1991. It includes sections 406, 420 and 109 of the Pakistan Penal Code with Section 3/4 of Anti-Money Laundering Act, 2010.
The investigation agency had also charged Tareen and others for illegal hoarding of sugar, misappropriation and cheating in the FIR. The FIA in another FIR had charged that Amir Waris, a confidante of Tareen, made illegal transactions from the company accounts and withdrew over two billion rupees. Waris had illegally deposited the amount in the personal accounts of Jahangir Tareen and his family members.
“During the inquiry a fake account was also found, which was used for around six billion rupees illegal transactions,” the FIR had read. “The fake account was used for transactions in accounts of various companies of Jahangir Tareen.”
“The probe found that the company’s chief Rana Naseem acted as main aide and made over Rs600 million transactions from JWD’s accounts”. Rana Naseem had claimed that the transactions were made for payment of salaries and bonuses, while the company had been in deficit for the last five years, according to the FIR. The FIA had charged in the FIR that Jahangir Tareen, Amir Waris and Rana Naseem have been involved in money laundering.
Talking to a private news channel a day earlier, Jahangir Tareen had said that the allegations by FIA are “baseless”. He had said a private audit firm has already validated the accounts of his companies. The PTI leader had taken the position that all the shares were transferred in accordance with the law and accounts law. Last year, Prime Minister Imran Khan had tasked the FIA to investigate the sugar crisis throughout the country and find out who benefited from it.
