Skip to main content

PPP calls on CJP to take notice of party leadership's 'media trial'

PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari and his sister Faryal Talpur.
The PPP has called on Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar to take notice of what it calls a "media trial" of the party's top leadership, allegedly at the behest of investigators probing a money laundering case.

PPP-Parliamentarians President Asif Ali Zardari, his sister Faryal Talpur and several of their business associates are currently being probed as part of a 2015 case regarding fake accounts and fictitious transactions — which were initially found to have totalled Rs35 billion — conducted through 29 ‘benami’ accounts in Summit Bank, Sindh Bank and UBL.

While forming a joint investigation team (JIT) to probe the 'fake' accounts case, the Supreme Court had barred the probe team and the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) from issuing press releases or providing information about the investigation to the media.

"Honourable SC in its order ... had clearly directed that to ensure transparent and effective inquiry, no member of the JIT or FIA will divulge any information to the media," said a statement issued by Senator Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar, the spokesperson for PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari.

"Sadly what we are seeing is that in clear violation of SC orders, sources 'within JIT' are openly being quoted on various talk shows and media outlets, to speculate on the ongoing inquiry," the statement claimed.

The PPP lawmaker said that the alleged speculation is being done with a "mala fide agenda" to malign the party's top leadership and to "create confusion in the minds of the general public".

“This raises a lot of questions on the credibility of the investigators, the conduct of the investigation and [it] seems that the outcome is already pre-determined,” Khokhar said.

He expressed the hope that Justice Nisar would take appropriate action regarding their complaint.

Zardari, his siblings and their business associates face allegations that they illegally channelled funds through the said fake accounts to launder them in connivance with the CEOs of major banks.



Comments

Popular posts from this blog

PML-N, PTI welcome ECP’s decision of deploying army on election day

Photo: File The leadership of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) have welcomed the decision of Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to deploy army in and outside polling stations on the election day.PML-N...

Death toll in Indonesia quake-tsunami tops 800

The death toll from a powerful earthquake and tsunami in Indonesia leapt to 832 Sunday, as stunned people on the stricken island of Sulawesi struggled to find food and water and looting spread. The new toll announced by the national disaster agency was almost double the previous figure. Indonesian vice-president Jusuf Kalla said the final number of dead could be in the "thousands." "It feels very tense," said 35-year-old mother Risa Kusuma, comforting her feverish baby boy at an evacuation centre in the gutted coastal city of Palu. "Every minute an ambulance brings in bodies. Clean water is scarce. The minimarkets are looted everywhere." Indonesia’s Metro TV on Sunday broadcast footage from a coastal community in Donggala, close to the epicentre of the quake, where some waterfront homes appeared crushed but a resident said most people fled to higher ground after the quake struck. "When it shook really hard, we all ran up into the hills," a ...

Saudi-led coalition conducts air strikes on Yemen's Hodeidah airport

Hodeidah port's grain silos are pictured from a nearby shantytown in Hodeidah, Yemen June 16, 2018.-Reuters (Photo: File)ADEN: A Saudi-led coalition conducted air strikes on Yemen’s Hodeidah airport on Sunday to support forces trying to seize...