Proof of TT to Maryam’s account found, claims Shahzad Akbar

ISLAMABAD: Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Accountability Shahzad Akbar Friday has reportedly written a letter to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) with evidence of several telegraphic transfers (TTs) from Hill Metal Establishment (HME) in Saudi Arabia to PML-N leader Maryam Nawaz.

Speaking at a news conference, he shared some documents with media, which he said detailed the transfers from HME to the PML-N vice president Maryam Nawaz. He claimed that over 85 percent of the declared profit of HME had gone to ex-prime minister Nawaz Sharif, of which a share was ‘gifted’ to Maryam, his daughter.

He also referred to the reference, pertaining to the Sharifs being unable to justify the source of funds provided to set up Al-Azizia Steel Mills and Hill Metal Establishment (HME) in Saudi Arabia. He recalled that Nawaz and his sons, Hussain Nawaz and Hassan Nawaz, had been accused in the Al-Azizia/Hill Metal Establishment reference, and that Nawaz had been given a seven-year sentence in that case.

Shahzad Akbar pointed out that an important factor that was as yet unexplored in this reference was that payments were made to Maryam by HME. He also noted that a Joint Investigation Team (JIT) investigating the case, had identified some payments made to Maryam, but the details of those had not been available earlier.

He continued that now these were available, as he shared documents, which allegedly showed TTs from HME to Maryam's accounts and that these included the 'Form R', in which the beneficiary takes ownership that the money being transferred was in their knowledge and was coming for a specified purpose.

This, he explained, included a TT of Rs14 million to Maryam's MCB account in 2008, in which the purpose specified was 'investment'; another TT for Rs19 million and one more in 2016 of Rs9.9 million from HME to her Habib Bank account in the bank's Jati Umrah Sharif Education City Branch. He said that he had written to NAB and attached the 'evidence' to it.

He maintained that any next step had to be taken by NAB, he shared evidence with them and hoped that they would further investigate it. Shahzad Akbar alleged that the Sharif family made laws in the 1990s that facilitated money laundering, inflow of cash without any questioning and hindrance.

He pointed out that everything was working out fine for the Sharif family until their names came in the Panama Leaks in 2016. He again alleged hat 90 percent of Shahbaz Sharif's Salman Shehbaz wealth was based on TT (telegraphic transfer).