Pakistan PM Shahid Abbasi slams anti-graft watchdog for money-laundering probe against Sharif

Pakistan Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi today slammed the national anti-corruption watchdog for initiating a probe on the basis of a “false” report against former premier Nawaz Sharif over alleged money-laundering to India.

The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) yesterday announced an inquiry on the basis of media reports that USD 4.9 billion was laundered from Pakistan to India by Sharif in 2016.

Abbasi speaking in the National Assembly accused the NAB of bias against Sharif and targeting him on the basis of a report which had already been rejected.

“It is not Nawaz Sharif's trial but the people's right to rule is being questioned,” he said.

The prime minister also asked parliament to summon the NAB chairman to clear his position as to why allegations of a serious nature were leveled against the former primeeir without any evidence.

Abbasi said the attitude of NAB showed that it would not do justice to Sharif, who is already under trial in three corruption cases started by the NAB.

“Not only should justice be done, it must also be seen being done,” he said, adding “NAB should play its due role against corruption but it should first fulfill the requirements of justice.” Defence Minister Khurram Dastagir Khan also expressed anger at NAB and said Sharif's disqualification by the Supreme Court last year in the Panama Papers case was also based on flimsy grounds.

Meanwhile, NAB today issued a clarification that its decision was based only on media reports and no internal investigations were done.

The NAB took action when media reports cited the World Bank's Remittances and Migration Report of 2016. But the bank yesterday rejected the claim that its two-year-old report on remittances levelled USD 4.9 billion money-laundering allegations against any individual.