LONDON: Senior Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leaders – Shafqat Mehmood and Anil Musarat provided crucial support to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif in the high-profile money laundering probe by the National Crime Agency (NCA) and the notorious Daily Mail. Suit in case of clean chit and apology and removal of defamatory article by publication.
Documents seen by JEE News that the evidence of PTI donor and Imran Khan’s friend Musrat and Mahmood was first used by Prime Minister Shehbaz’s lawyers in the NCA money laundering probe and then by Daily Mail publishers. In a defamation suit against David Rose on 14 used on a defamatory article. July 2019.
The entire article was published in the Daily Mail on the basis that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and his son-in-law Imran Ali Yusuf were involved in looting British taxpayers’ money that was given to Pakistan to help victims of the 2005 Kashmir earthquake. In a blow to the Department for International Development (DFID), the Department for International Development (DFID) rejected the Daily Mail’s claims, saying the Pakistani prime minister had not misused the funds and that the UK’s aid program was transparent and fair.
This explanation helped the PML-N leader, but it was Mehmood who described Prime Minister Shehbaz as a strong witness.
During a dinner hosted by the two PTI leaders at the Dorchester Hotel on Park Lane on January 22, 2020, when asked about his views on the Daily Mail article and alleged corruption in DFID funds. Mehmood responded that the PML-N and PTI governments under Britain’s aid program to Pakistan were “largely” free of corruption.
Mehmood clarified that the overall DFID program has been well organized and properly run under the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and Muslim League (N) government.
In the defamation case, Prime Minister Shehbaz’s lawyers used this statement to support the Prime Minister’s legal position that Rose’s allegations were false.
Mahmood denied sensational allegations made by the Mail on Sunday that the newspaper claimed hundreds of millions of pounds of British aid was being funneled into education in Pakistan – where corrupt officials have created thousands of bogus teaching jobs. Cash has been earned at scale. And pocket the salaries.
The newspaper falsely claimed, “This fraud is just one of many education scandals across Pakistan, with the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID) committing £700 million to help the country’s poor children.” Is”.
“Overall it has been a good programme. It is for DFID to assess whether the objectives have been achieved. DFID has a good relationship with provincial governments and we want to let them know. are saying that we are building a data center at the federal level,” the PTI leader said.
Mehmood said that according to his knowledge, there was no corruption in the DFID program. He asked DFID to continue supporting Pakistan through education funding.
“We want DFID to continue its support program with us.”
NCA investigation
In February this year, Westminster Magistrates’ Court opened an NCA investigation into Prime Minister Shehbaz’s money laundering and it emerged that Musrat had actually helped the Prime Minister buy three properties in London. Ironically, it was the Khan-led PTI government that forced the British government to investigate the prime minister for money laundering, but it was Musrat’s evidence that helped Prime Minister Shehbaz prove that He had conducted a legitimate transaction and there was no money laundering involved.
At the request of the PTI government, Musrat’s accounts were investigated and evidence emerged that PTI donors and the prime minister were not part of the money laundering scheme. This was the main evidence that led to the NCA giving a clean chit to the Prime Minister.
Musrat bought Flat 2, 30 Upper Berkeley Street, London 2005 from PM Shehbaz at an auction in April 2005 with a £235,000 deposit and a £59,993 loan. Two months later, the Prime Minister returned the money to Musrat through a bank transfer.
Musrat paid £40,000 to buy Prime Minister Shehbaz’s Edgeware Road flat in 2007. The Manchester-based businessman also paid around £230,000 in 2009 to help the PM buy a flat in London’s Canary Wharf area.
The prime minister’s lawyers provided evidence to the NCA that all three loans to Musrat were repaid on time and that there was no money laundering involved.
Interestingly, Pakistan’s Asset Recovery Unit (ARU) sent a National Accountability Bureau (NAB) document to the NCA alleging that Prime Minister Shahbaz had bought four London assets starting in 2005. failed to satisfy the Pakistani authorities about the sources of funds used for and provided details of Musrat. Do business with the PM to ensure that both are investigated as long as the objective of pinning the Premier was achieved. NCA was told that Musrat was the Prime Minister’s frontman.
The NCA obtained Asset Freezing Orders (AFO) from Westminster Magistrates’ Court as part of the frozen funds investigation in December 2019 to investigate PM Shahbaz for running a money laundering scheme with the help of his son Sulaiman Shahbaz. can be done
Finding no evidence of money laundering, abuse of public office, corruption and illegal activities, the NCA removed the AFOs in September 2021, giving clearance to the prime minister.
