LAHORE: The PML-N warned its political rivals on Sunday that it’s time for their accountability as the N-League leadership had already gone through the process thrice.

“The Sharifs have gone through the sieve of forensic audit during two tenures of slain PPP leader Benazir Bhutto as well as the Musharraf regime,” Information Minister Pervaiz Rashid said, adding: “Those who made fortunes over the past decade or so have yet to pass through this sieve. Rather their DNA tests are also due.”

Flanked by Railways Minister Khwaja Saad Rafiq and MNA Talal Chaudhry at a press conference, he said that those asking questions about the seed money the Sharifs got for Jeddah steel mills and other businesses never questioned how this family set up its business in Dubai and in the country immediately after Zulfikar Ali Bhutto had confiscated their earlier industrial units.

In reply to a question, Mr Rashid said the Sharifs benefited from their goodwill and credibility to develop these businesses despite being empty-handed. He said those whose DNA test was due – a reference to Sita White scandal involving Imran Khan – must be anxious about their accountability and not the government.

He claimed that the PTI was now dragging its feet from an across-the-board accountability after Imran Khan’s ATMs (a veiled reference to Jehangir Tareen and Aleem Khan allegedly bearing expenses of the PTI chairman’s politics) were found involved in land grabbing, loan write-offs and money laundering.

Mr Rashid questioned how Mr Tareen had transferred Rs520 million abroad in 2014 at a time when Imran Khan was accusing others of doing the same offence. He claimed that almost the same time Mr Tareen got his loans written off pleading his inability to pay back the money, but on the other hand he sent abroad a large chunk of money.

The minister said the PTI was earlier speaking against offshore companies, but now it changed the stance arguing it was a good work for the welfare of children when it was unearthed that both the ‘ATMs’ were also involved in offshore business. He accused Mr Khan of doing confrontational politics to discourage foreign investors, particularly the Chinese.

Referring to PPP’s objection to the proposed judicial commission on Panama leaks, Mr Rashid sarcastically said the party had misunderstood it as the ‘commission’ (kickbacks) and recalled that the Haj scam and EOBI scandal were the proofs of this kind of commission.

Saad Rafiq said there was a difference of a few millions in the value of assets owned by the Sharifs and Imran Khan and asked how the PTI chief amassed this wealth when he had no known sources of his income.

He said Imran Khan had never positively participated in the proceedings of parliament and asserted that either “continuous failures” had mentally destabilised the PTI leader or he was unknowingly playing in the hands of others.

Talal Chaudhry presented copies of Aleem Khan’s nomination papers and said the PTI leader had not mentioned any investment, mortgage details or cash in 10 his bank accounts or those of his and his wife used for transferring the money to purchase London flats and set up offshore companies. Terming it a crime, he said the PTI leader would soon be jailed for misleading the Election Commission and tax institutions.

Talal Chaudhry claimed that Mr Tareen sent a notice to Shahbaz Sharif during the day but tried to approach the chief minister (for rapprochement) through “backdoor” in the dead of night.

Published in Dawn, May 2nd, 2016