Have respect for law otherwise ...: Would’ve locked corrupt in hotel to retrieve money, says Shahzad Akbar

ISLAMABAD: Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Accountability Shahzad Akbar Thursday alleged former prime minister Mian Nawaz Sharif used the new Islamabad International Airport project to inject money into Chaudhry Sugar Mills (CSM), billing it a big corporate fraud.

Shahzad Akbar said 45 percent shares of CSM were owned by Maryam Nawaz who played important role in the fraud.

“We have respect for the law, otherwise, we would have locked all the corrupt in a hotel to retrieve the looted money,” the special assistant said while addressing a news conference here. He said the mills was a big corporate fraud and most of its accused were presently abroad. He then presented a breakdown of the alleged corruption that had been carried out by the Sharifs, using the Chaudhry Sugar Mills, claiming the major contract for the project was given to a company, namely Technical Associate, which is owned by individuals having close links to the Sharif family.

The aim of these media briefings, he noted, was to inform the people about how they had been looted, as people should also demand an answer from them (Sharif family). He contended that a question rose, as to how this mills was established but it was an era when loot and plunder was the order of the day. Shahzad Akbar charged that Sharifs made drastic changes in the project's PC-1, serious design changes due to which a project, estimated to cost Rs33 billion, ended up costing close to Rs105 billion. He added that due to this, there were delays that ultimately benefitted Technical Associate and hence Rs507 million were injected into the Chaudhry Sugar Mills.

At this point, he showed a cheque from Technical Associate for Rs50 million, claiming it was withdrawn by Shujaat Azeem, special assistant to then prime minister on aviation during Nawaz Sharif's regime. He remarked that if this was not a kickback then it was a conflict of interest.

Yet again, Shahzad Akbar asked Shahbaz Sharif to give an answer to the 10 questions he had posed earlier in addition to the points he had raised in his latest news conference during which he referred to a number of other transactions, saying these were connected in one way or other to the Chaudhry Sugar Mills.

He emphasised that to understand this whole thing, one needs to first understand how the sugar mills was established. Before the 1990s, a loan was required to establish the mills. He alleged that instead of going to a bank, these people created a shell corporation called Chadron Jersey Limited. He continued that then the Sharifs took a loan in Chadron Jersey's name and the terms of the loan were set in such a manner that the bank instead of providing Rs15 million directly would send it to this company, which would then procure machinery for the mills and send it to Pakistan.

Shahzad Akbar claimed that back in 1990, no money or machine ever arrived in Pakistan while Nawaz Sharif had become prime minister by this time and they had said that the machinery was managed locally to save time. And this followed a blank cheque that was given to pay the loan back to Chadron Jersey Limited, with interest, in the next four years.

Shahzad Akbar pointed out that Chadron Jersey Limited and eight other companies, claiming they were all shell companies, were registered as per same. He claimed that the same could be verified from the World Bank's website. He also shared details of all the loans allegedly taken for the Chaudhry Sugar Mills in the name of various individuals and bodies.

The special assistant alleged that foreign currency accounts valuing $15.37 million were also opened and fake telegraphic transfers also made in the name of an Arab national.