PM’s aide defends PTI govt’s role in sugar crisis

By News Desk

ISLAMABAD/RAWALPINDI/LAHORE: Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Accountability Shahzad Akbar took fresh aim at the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leadership on Wednesday, presenting a raft of new allegations based on the sugar inquiry report and terming the report an “indictment” against former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi.

In a news conference in Islamabad on Wednesday, Akbar said Shahid Khaqan Abbasi had allegedly given Rs20 billion in subsidies to the “sugar mafia” in his tenure as prime minister. Akbar’s latest revelations come a week after the government sugar inquiry commission’s forensic report held many top politicians across the political divide responsible for the sugar crisis last year.

“The commission’s report is an indictment against ex-PM Shahid Khaqan Abbasi,” Akbar said. “A total subsidy of Rs29 billion was given to sugar mills in the last five years.

Out of Rs29 billion, only Rs2.4 billion subsidy was given by the incumbent government of Punjab.”

Playing down the ruling party’s role in the scandal, Akbar said the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)-led federal government only allowed the export of surplus sugar, and had not given any subsidies on sugar in its tenure.

Akbar, however, stated the investigation report of the sugar commission is “comprehensive and an eye opener” and credited the ruling PTI for investigating the scandal, collecting evidence, making the report public and for its future corrective measures.

The commission in its report wrote about the subsidy given in 2017 by Abbasi that — on the basis of superficial calculations — a subsidy of more than Rs20 billion was allocated from the public exchequer to the sugar mills, the PM’s aide added.

He alleged Salman Shahbaz, son of opposition leader Shahbaz Sharif, was “the facilitator, who, by leading a cartel of Pakistan Sugar Mills Association (PSMA), manipulated the former prime minister Abbasi to give a subsidy of Rs20 billion”.

He said irrespective of their party affiliation, the government would take action against “all culprits” exposed in the forensic report.

He said Prime Minster Imran Khan would be briefed next week to direct the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), Security and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) and other relevant departments to file references in the court of law, in light of the commission’s report.

“Shahbaz Sharif returned from London to lead the nation, but has quarantined himself to avoid appearance in the NAB court to face corruption charges against him,” Akbar claimed. “No matter what, Shahbaz Sharif will have to submit before the court of law in corruption cases against him.”

On the heels of Akbar’s press conference, PML-N spokeswoman Marriyum Aurangzeb appeared in a Rawalpindi presser, where she dismissed the inquiry commission’s report as “incomplete” because Prime Minister Imran Khan was not brought before the probe body. She called on the Premier to resign because the decision to export sugar was made in his cabinet.