ISLAMABAD, Dec 17 (APP):Minister for Information and Broadcasting Chaudhry Fawad Hussain on Friday said that with the availability of evidences in the money laundering case, PML-N president Shahbaz Sharif cannot escape punishment.
Addressing a press conference here along with Minister of State of Information and Broadcasting Farrukh Habib, Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmad and SAPM on Political Communication Shahbaz Gill, he said the PM’s Adviser on Accountability Shahzad Akbar gave a detailed briefing in the meeting of spokespersons on the corruption of Shahbaz Sharif family.
The minister said that about a year ago, it came to light that Shahbaz Sharif and Hamza Shahbaz were involved in money laundering and they operated these accounts like Omni Group accounts by the Zardari group.
However, he said, Zardari group did not operate these accounts directly but Shahbaz Sharif and Hamza Shahbaz operated them directly, and 17,000 transactions of 18 people were checked through which Rs16 billion were laundered by only one factory Shahbaz Sharif & Family.
He said this corruption was the tip of the iceberg in Shahbaz Sharif case. He asked the media that it should examine the documents of the cases against Shahbaz Sharif and Hamza Shahbaz Sharif and bring the facts before the people.
The minister said that there was only one chance of escape from punishment for Sahbaz if no hearings of the case were held. He hoped that the court would make day to day hearing of the case for its early disposal.
He informed the media that Prime Minister Imran Khan appeared as a witness in his defamation case against Khawaja Asif through video link.
Under the new system set up by the Law Ministry in Islamabad, he said witnesses can appear in their cases through video conferencing, and this practice has been started .
He said that Khawaja Asif alleged misuse of charity money at Shaukat Khanum Hospital in 2012, and the case has not been decided yet.
Shaukat Khanum Hospital spent Rs 70 billion every year on treatment of poor people, Chaudhry Fawad said, adding if such allegations were made then who will do charity work in Pakistan.
He expressed the hope this case will be decided soon, and as always Khawaja Asif would prove to be a liar, as he never told the truth in his life.
The minister said during Punjab Committee meeting the Prime Minister has expressed no confidence in Khanewal election in the meeting of Punjab Committee.
He said that deficiencies should be rectified, reports of money laundering and horse trading came to the fore in bye elections which was unfortunate and ECP should take steps in this regard so that horse trading in elections can be stopped.
The minister said that upcoming local body elections in Punjab were discussed in detail and a high level committee had been formed in Punjab to finalize the candidates for the post of district mayor.
He said that Minister for Energy Hamad Azhar gave a briefing on the gas issue in a meeting of spokespersons. He said that they were informed that out of 2300 industrial units of Sui Northern, gas was being supplied to 1800 units.
He said that Hammad told the spokespersons that it was not possible for the government to give costly imported gas to industries at cheap rates.
Fawad said that giving gas to captive plants would mean complete shutdown of gas for domestic consumers.
The Ministry of Energy was of the view that the captive plants are inactive, it is not right to give more subsidies as these plants were generating electricity from gas, which was available in excess discounted rates.
He said that the gas problem was more acute in Karachi, as the commodity was being supplied to 50 top exporters in the mega city.
Gas reserves in Pakistan decreased by 9% last year and they would further deplete 9 per cent this year, said Chaudhry Fawad.
He said that the government procured gas according to its carriage capacity, but expensive imported LNG cannot be given for domestic use.
Talking to the media, Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Faruukh Habib said that the PML-N cast votes of dead persons in the bye-elections in Khanewal.
He said that after 40 year an extra ordinary meeting of OIC was being held on Afghanistan as Pakistan wanted to inform the Muslim Ummah and the entire world about the impeding humanitarian crisis in neighboring country.
He said that the Secretary General of OIC had arrived in Islamabad and various other delegations were arriving today.
He said that this meeting was a manifestation of the successful foreign policy of Pakistan.
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