There will be no foreign investment if Pakistan defaults: Imran Khan

LAHORE: Lashing out at the coalition government, former prime minister and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan has said that it will not damage the interest of the "gang of thieves" if the country defaults, media reports said.

Addressing a press conference Sunday, Khan said the "gang of thieves" has properties in foreign countries worth billions of dollars, hence they do not care about the economic collapse of the country, Geo News reported.

He added that the US dollar will further shoot up and there would be no foreign investment "if Pakistan defaults", the report said.

"A group of thieves has been imposed on us," the deposed premier said, adding that the gang has been stealing national wealth for the past 30 years. He also said they were laundering the looted money abroad via illegal means including hundi and hawala.

A day earlier, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar reiterated that the "economy is going in the right direction" and it would "not default".

He added that no more experiments could be done with the country's economy as Pakistan had gone through its "darkest economic periods" during the previous government's tenure.

People came to know how the Sharif family was laundering the looted money when the Hudaibia Paper Mills case surfaced, Khan added. The Sharif family's "front man" Ishaq Dar recorded his statement under Section 164 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) and revealed the details of the money laundering, Geo News reported.