PTI Secretary General Salman Akram Raja (right) addresses a press conference at Lahore Press Club. — PPI/File

Salman Akram Raja denies PTI govt role in ‘bilateral’ £190m settlement

by Pakistan News
0 comment 1 views




PTI Secretary General Salman Akram Raja (right) addresses a press conference at Lahore Press Club. — PPI/File

Clarifying Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s stance on the high-profile £190 million case, the party’s Secretary General Salman Akram Raja distanced the then-PTI government from any direct role in the “bilateral” settlement reached between the UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA) and a private party in 2019.

Raja’s statement comes days after PTI founder Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi were sentenced to 14 and seven years, respectively, in the £190 million case.

“[In its verdict] the British court said that it was a two-sided agreement in which the [then] Pakistani government had no part,” said Raja in a press conference.

Accountability Court Judge Nasir Javed Rana had handed down a 14-year sentence to the PTI founder and a seven-year sentence to his wife, while also slapping heavy fines on them during a proceeding held inside a makeshift court at Adiala jail.

The PTI founder will have to pay Rs1 million and his wife Rs0.5 million in fines. In case of failure, the ex-PM will serve six and Bushra three months more.

“The agreement stated that the money would be disbursed to an account belonging to the Pakistani government,” said the PTI secretary general.

He detailed that the deal was signed on November 6, 2019, followed by a press conference during which NCA announced the disbursement of the money to a Pakistani government account.

“It was said at the time of the agreement that the money would go into a Pakistani government’s account, whereas, the NCA asked to keep it secret.

Slamming the incumbent government led by the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), Raja said that questions were raised about why the funds were transferred to the Supreme Court instead of the treasury.

He said that the decision taken on November 6, 2019, had already been implemented on November 29 of the same year.

“When a piece of state-owned land is given for free, then its payment will go to the government itself,” Raja said, reiterating that the payment for all the land was supposed to go to the state.

Rejecting the allegations of any loss to the national exchequer, Raja said that the funds were transferred to the top court’s account and later £171 million were deposited to the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on November 23, 2019.

He went on to say that Rs94 billion was transferred to the federal and Sindh governments’ accounts on January 9. He added that no one could prove the transaction of funds caused any financial loss to the national exchequer.

The PTI official announced that his party would move the high court within a few days to challenge the verdict, vowing to begin a “legal and moral fight”.

The Al-Qadir Trust case, commonly known as the £190m case involves allegations that Imran and some others in 2019 adjusted Rs50 billion — amounting to £190 million at the time — sent by Britain’s NCA to the Pakistani government during his tenure as the country’s prime minister.

The concerned amount relates to a property tycoon’s assets which were seized by the NCA during PTI’s rule. The British crime agency back then had said that the amount was supposed to be passed to the Government of Pakistan as its settlement with the Pakistani property tycoon was “a civil matter, and does not represent a finding of guilt”.

To a question regarding the status of negotiations with the federal government, he replied that the former ruling party was engaging in dialogue at “all levels” to find solutions to issues which was crucial to pull the country out of crisis.

This statement came after the federal government’s spokesperson for the negotiation committee, Senator Irfan Siddiqui, disapproved of the embattled party’s meeting with the top military leadership amid a dialogue process, saying that the negotiations cannot be conducted simultaneously through multiple channels.

It may be noted that the former ruling party is currently in talks with the federal government on its demands, which include the release of its founder, Imran, and other PTI leaders and supporters in jail.

The party finally presented its demands to the government’s negotiation committee in writing, seeking probes into the May 9, 2023, and November 26, 2024 events, as well as the release of “political prisoners”, in a third round of parleys held on January 16.

Later that day, Gohar revealed that he and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur had recently held a meeting with COAS Munir in Peshawar, where they presented all matters and demands of the party directly to the army chief.


You may also like

Pakistan Live News
Pakistan’s Most Trusted, Source of News. Pakistan Live News is Pakistan’s most trusted website for breaking news and key developments.

Newsletter

Latest News

@2022 – Pakistan Live News – All Right Reserved.