KARACHI: Rejecting any chances of striking a deal with the country’s two major opposition parties, Prime Minister Imran Khan has made it clear that former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and former president Asif Zardari have to reach a plea bargain with authorities if they want any relief.

“No NRO will be given to anyone, but yes an option of plea bargain is available for everyone. If Nawaz [Sharif] wants to go abroad for the [medical] treatment he has to return the looted money first,” the PM said in a live wide-ranging panel interview given to ARY News on Saturday.

He gave a similar offer to interned Pakistan Peoples Party co-chairman Zardari when he said: “[He is] facing difficulties, he will also be let go if he pays the money.”

“Go wherever you [Nawaz and Zardari] want but first return the looted money of Pakistan,” said the PM.

He announced that the government was now taking action against benami properties of politicians and “will start seizing them” from Tuesday (today).

He disclosed that Nawaz Sharif’s sons had approached two countries with a request to intervene to facilitate their father.

Without naming those countries, he said they conveyed the message and told him that “we will not interfere”.

Mr Khan spoke on the worsening economy that he inherited following the last year’s general election, rupee devaluation, burden of foreign loans, tax reforms and the overall political situation. He was assisted by Adviser on Finance Dr Hafeez Shaikh and Federal Board of Revenue Chairman Shabbar Zaidi.

Govt to start seizing benami properties of politicians from today; loans worth $10bn repaid

In reply to a question about PML-N vice president Maryam Nawaz, he said only time would tell her future.

“I don’t mind and they don’t matter,” was his reaction while commenting on PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari.

When asked if he had instructed the speaker to ban the word ‘selected’ in the National Assembly, the prime minister said it would make no difference whether the opposition called him selected.

Answering a question about giving extension to Chief of the Army Staff Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa, who is due to retire later this year, he said: “Time has not come to think about it. So far I do not think about it.”

Money laundering

Commenting on cases against the PPP and PML-N leaderships, the prime minister said the two parties had made cases against each other.

The Hudaibya Paper Mills case was instituted by the PPP government against Nawaz Sharif and likewise, the Surrey Palace case was initiated against Mr Zardari by the PML-N government.

In his traditional style, he commented that “all previous rulers were involved in money laundering”. And in an attempt to back his claim, he said Nawaz Sharif’s son Hussain Nawaz lived in a 43 million pound luxury house in London. “Asif Zardari as a president toured the UAE 40 times. Nawaz Sharif had spent Rs64 million on foreign tours. Those who have made the country bankrupt are asking us for accountability. These rulers have ruined the departments like PIA, Railway and others.”

Dollar hike

The prime minister made it clear that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) had not fixed the rate of dollar and the money launderers were behind the dollar hike.

He referred to the arrest of model Ayyan Ali, who was caught in March 2015 at Islamabad airport for allegedly smuggling $500,000 to the UAE, and said that his government was taking all-out steps to curb money laundering. “The government is making an anti-money laundering programme with the help of border security forces and other agencies.”

Mr Khan said he had instructed the law minister to introduce legislation so that A-class facilities in prisons could be withdrawn. Under the new legislation, looters of the public money should be put in the jail barracks with common prisoners facing theft charges, he said.

Pressure on rupee to go soon

Talking about the IMF bailout package, the prime minister said that economy would become more stable with the introduction of the IMF programme.

“The country will enter a new era after the agreement with IMF on July 3,” he said, maintaining that the pressure on rupee would be eased in July because it was also linked with the outflows or inter-banks mechanism.

He promised to streamline the economy by enforcing strict financial discipline.

He said a country’s economy was judged globally on the basis of fiscal and current account deficits. The same criterion was being applied by the international donor agencies.

Criticising the previous governments, the PM said his government inherited about $19.5 billion deficit, which caused huge pressure on the rupee. “Total $14bn commercial loans were obtained by the previous government to keep the value of rupee afloat in the market thus bringing the country at the verge of default.”

He said they used the country’s foreign exchange reserves to keep a check on the value of rupee. “About $7bn from the foreign exchange reserves were spent by the previous government in a single year,” he claimed.

The prime minister said that timely assistance from the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, China and Qatar had helped Pakistan greatly in easing the financial pressure and improved the foreign payments.

He said that without their timely support, the payment of foreign loans could not have been made possible. The government was able to pay back about $10bn loans, he added.

Published in Dawn, July 2nd, 2019