Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) on Tuesday hurled serious allegations at Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan, accusing him of using and losing the money donated for Shaukat Khanum Memorial Hospital (SKMH) by investing it in speculative real estate business abroad.
Speaking at a news conference along with party leaders Pervez Rashid and Mushahidullah Khan, PML-N senior leader Khawja Asif alleged that Khan transferred Rs 4.50 billion abroad from SKMH's accounts, which were donated by people to the hospital. He alleged that the transferred amount was invested in speculative real estate business in Masqat and Dubai and these investments incurred huge losses. Asif also distributed some documents among the media persons terming it as 'fact sheet'. He asked PTI chief to come up with solid response to the "fact sheet" and prove it wrong in the court of the law, which prompted the PTI chief to address an emergency press conference, wherein he rejected all the allegations.
The PML-N leader said that Khan and SKMH were bound to respond the allegations instead of PTI, as the party had nothing to do with what the PTI chief had been doing. Accusing the PTI chief of money laundering, Asif said that not only he invested donations in gambling but also lost the money. He maintained that he had the documents to prove the allegations, adding that the money collected from Zakat and Fitrana was invested in separate businesses.
The company through which SKMH and Imran Khan invested their money declared 64 percent losses. He said PTI chief had invested this money in unnamed offshore companies and Imran's front man Imtiaz Haideri transferred the amount. He pointed out that these companies included Sugarland Real Estate Limited (BVIL) and Cinnabar International Services Limited (CISL), through which these 'benami' transactions were carried out. "Every Pakistani has the right to ask Imran Khan as under which authority he took this money out of the country and why he defeated the objective for which the money was donated," he questioned.
He claimed that even Double Shah's business was more transparent and candid than Imran Khan's secret deals. He said that the people should know as how their money they gave for the cancer patients was being used. The PML-N leader also termed Imran's continuous ranting for bringing back to Pakistan the assets held abroad by different individuals and politicians as hollow, saying that he had himself transferred donation money abroad and invested in speculative and dubious ventures.
Asif went on saying that the way Imran misused SKMH money donated by the people, is ample proof that how he (Imran) would treat the national exchequer if comes into power. He dubbed SKMH trust as dubious, saying that all the employees of the trust are either close relatives of Imran Khan or his close aides.