Broadsheet CEO says Nawaz Sharif offered bribe to cast aside foreign assets probe

ISLAMABAD: Nawaz Sharif offered bribe to Broadsheet for abandoning probe against his foreign assets, Broadsheet Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Kaveh Moussavi said. In an interview, he said the Broadsheet had flatly refused the deal offered by a person claiming himself as the nephew of Nawaz Sharif, in the year 2012, retorting that the Broadsheet did not negotiate with crooks.

“Sharif family has assets not only in the United Kingdom, but across the globe,” he said, adding that the Sharif family required plenty of explanation about their resources of amassing these assets. He said the process of accountability was continuing, but after President Musharraf left office, his successors started hampering the process by not giving access to information and termination of Broadsheet’s contract.

Responding to a question, he severely criticised Nawaz Sharif for claiming that Broadsheet had exonerated the Sharifs. “Indeed Broadsheet did the opposite exactly,” he said, adding that it was a complete lie that Broadsheet exonerated the Sharif family. "Broadsheet did not pursue Avenfield apartments source of buying as a Pakistani accountability court had already contended that the apartments were bought by the Sharifs from the stolen money. However Broadsheet was ready to investigate money sources of Avenfield apartments if asked by the government of Pakistan,” he said.

The CEO said Nawaz Sharif was behind termination of contract with Broadsheet which was investigating how hundreds of millions of dollars had been stolen from Pakistan and stashed abroad.

Moussavi said Musharraf tasked Broadsheet to detect the assets of 200 people. But, after his tenure, the NAB started asking to remove names of certain people from the list that was refused. “This was the hypocrisy of then government of Pakistan,” he said.