Sugar Inquiry Commission report an eyewash: Shahbaz

LAHORE: PML-N President and National Assembly Opposition Leader Shahbaz Sharif has said the entire Sugar Inquiry Commission report is an eyewash to save real culprits of this scandal Prime Minister Imran Khan, his cabinet and Punjab CM Usman Buzdar and his cabinet.

In a statement on Thursday, he said this scandal is not about who got the subsidy, but the real crime is the criminal decision to export sugar against the written recommendation of the Sugar Advisory Board amid shortage of sugar in the country. He said this decision is the prerogative of the prime minister who is the head of the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) even if he asks the finance minister to chair it on his behalf.

Shahbaz said Imran made a conscious decision to export sugar to benefit his blue-eyed people to pay back their financial favours by robbing people of Pakistan. He said not only did he help them make billions through export while the rupee was devalued but also robbed people by jacking up sugar prices from Rs 52 to Rs 90 due to the consequent shortage in local market because of this untimely export.

This scandal, he said, is not about Rs 3 billion subsidy but of hundreds of billions made through artificial price hike. He said Imran Niazi should have appeared before the commission as he is the prime suspect in this case. He said if former prime ministers Nawaz Sharif and Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and he himself can appear for accountability and even brave unwarranted imprisonment, why can’t Imran?