ISLAMABAD: Former Interior Minister Abdur Rehman Malik has said that he will appear before the JIT on 23rd June and will share what is already part of official record in connection with allegations of corruption and money laundering against the Sharifs.
In an interaction with The News, Malik said that he has confirmed to the JIT about his appearance on the 23rd, adding that he owns his letter that he had written to the-then President Rafiq Tarar against the Sharifs.
He said that he will present the facts and follow the merit, adding that he will not be biased and there will be no political scoring.
Malik’s contribution for the JIT would be critically important and he is the person who during the 90s, for the first time, had accused the Sharifs of money laundering besides connecting the ruling family with offshore companies.
In September 1998, Malik while serving as Additional DG FIA had submitted a report to the then President Rafiq Tarar, seeking a high-level inquiry against the then Prime Minister Mian Nawaz Sharif. A month later, he was dismissed from the FIA.
In a covering letter addressed to President Tarar and attached with the inquiry report, Malik had alleged:
“I am submitting this report directly to you because I do not expect any action by the official hierarchy who at the moment are mostly political appointees. I have already been pressured to hand over all this record to Prime Minister’s Secretariat, where I fully well know the fate it is going to meet. I have also been warned to keep my lips tight, otherwise, my services shall be terminated and I again would be jailed in false cases. In brief, the extent of corruption and money laundering are staggering. I leave it to your absolute wisdom and judgment to determine the moral and constitutional justification of a person like Nawaz Sharif to hold the sacred office of prime ministership of an Islamic republic”.
According to reports published by this newspaper in the past, a brief summary of the investigation report compiled by Malik and submitted to President Tarar on September 24, 1998, was also sent to the then Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Ajmal Mian and the then Chief Ehtesab Commissioner Justice (retd) Ghulam Mujaddad Mirza. However, no action was taken by any of them.
In his report, Malik alleged, “Mian Nawaz Sharif during his tenure in power as Finance minister (1984-85), Chief Minister (1985-90) or as Prime Minister of Pakistan (1991-93 and 1996-1999) managed to acquire unparalleled industrial power.”
He added that this unprecedented power and wealth was in fact amassed through evasion of taxes, import duties and other devious means such as kickbacks from illegal grants, privatization of public property and money laundering. The report said that Mian Nawaz Sharif owned huge sums of money in the form of foreign exchange and property primarily in Switzerland and the UK.
Malik also maintained that Nawaz Sharif is in certain cases the sole owner or the major shareholder in the name of his son and his wife in the 30 odd industrial units of his family. The report also gave details of alleged money laundering by the Sharifs.
During the last PPP government, Rehman Malik once announced to file a reference with the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) against the Sharif brothers on charges of money laundering.
However, the PML-N had rejected Rehman Malik’s claims as a pack of lies. The N-League added that had there been any truth in Malik’s report it would have caught the attention of Gen Pervez Musharraf, who had usurped power from an elected prime minister.
