PML-N supreme leader and former Prime Minister Mian Nawaz Sharif has hit out at his rival PTI Chairman and former premier Imran Khan following the landmark verdict in PTI’s prohibited funding case.
To clarify, after almost eight years, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) announced that PTI did indeed receive prohibited funds. The ECP said that the party, in violation of the Constitution, had received funds from 34 foreigners from the US, Australia, and UAE.
Read more: US, UK nationals & Romita Shetty funded PTI
Speaking to journalists outside his residence, Nawaz Sharif – who has been living in London since 2019 and has not returned since – called the developments the “biggest theft in history.”
“The biggest theft in history and biggest money laundering case has been proven. Imran Khan knew that this verdict would prove his foreign funding,” Nawaz Sharif said.
Nawaz Sharif also added that Imran Khan wanted to remove Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikandar Sultan Raja from his post because he was “aware of the money laundering case against him”. The PTI Chairman had on several occasions demanded the resignation of CEC and is very critical of the ECP.
Imran Khan committed the biggest theft & biggest money laundering in the history of Pakistan; he called himself honest but ECP verdict proves he lied to make money and broke Pakistani laws, Nawaz Sharif says after ECP finds PTI broke law by receiving prohibited foreign funds pic.twitter.com/nuOLr4HUMa
— Murtaza Ali Shah (@MurtazaViews) August 2, 2022
Nawaz Sharif further said that Imran Khan was working in line with a foreign agenda, as he received funds from foreigners. He demanded action against the PTI chief, saying that he has destroyed Pakistan.
“This man Imran is extremely dangerous for Pakistan and he should be punished as soon as possible,” Nawaz Sharif said.
Charges of corruption against the former Prime Minister
Pertinent to mention, there are charges of corruption and money laundering against Nawaz Sharif. Accountability courts convicted Nawaz Sharif in the Avenfield reference and in the Al Azizia reference. Shortly after, Nawaz Sharif went to the UK on medical grounds.
Furthermore, on April 3, 2016, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) made 11.5 million secret documents, later known as the Panama Papers, available to the public.
Read more: Nawaz Sharif Corruption Trial: Should there be a live transmission from Court?
The documents included details of eight offshore companies with links to the family of Nawaz Sharif, the then-incumbent Prime Minister of Pakistan, and his brother Shehbaz Sharif, the incumbent Prime Minister of Pakistan. According to the ICIJ, Sharif’s children Maryam Nawaz, Hassan Nawaz, and Hussain Nawaz “were owners or had the right to authorize transactions for several companies”.