ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) secretary general Asad Umar on Tuesday sent Jamaat-e-Islami chief Sirajul Haq a legal notice for accusing him of stashing money in foreign banks, saying “either tender an apology within 14 days or get ready to face the court”.
Speaking at a presser, Umar said that the JI chief has levelled baseless allegations of stashing money in foreign banks which has tarnished his image.
“I’ve sent a legal notice to Sirajul Haq to tender an apology within 14 days, as well as, reveal the name of the person who has told the lie about my wealth in a foreign bank or I will drag him to the court,” he declared.
He reiterated that the JI chief “should better tender an unconditional apology in a presser in the equal and similar manner as it was done at the time of levelling false allegations within a period of 14 days from the date of issuance of this notice in writing”.
He warned that if the JI Amir failed to tender an unconditional apology, he would be left with no option to “bring lawful actions against him in an appropriate forum and manners both in the civil and criminal jurisdictions.”
“My lawyers have sent (a) legal notice to Siraj for making a false accusation that I have wealth abroad. Either he will publicly apologise or I will drag him to the court,” he maintained.
The notice sent to Haq states that “you claimed that such people inclusive of our client is amongst those who have deposited Rs170 billion and according to you that too in his personal account, therefore 18 people having accounts with the deposit over Rs4000 billion (currency is not specified).
“You also claimed falsely said that our client is included in the people who have surprised you how they earn their money,” it said, adding, “The money which you have claimed attaching with the name of our client in highly scandalous manner while saying is ill-gotten.”
However, it was said that Asad had been a taxpayer since 1984-85, who worked for Exxon Chemical Pakistan from 1985 to 1989, Exxon Mobil in Canada 1989-91, Hong-Kong Shanghai Bank from 1984 to 1985 and Engro Corporation from 1991 to 2012.
“When he returned to Pakistan in 1991, he brought every single dollar back to the motherland and since then he never had any account or any asset even worth one dollar outside Pakistan,” the notice reads.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023