The entire emphasis on merciless scrutiny would come to a naught and be exposed as toothless if the Sharifs are allowed to contest elections, said Pakistan Tahreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Central Information Secretary Shafqat Mahmood here on Friday.
Referring to reports that a returning officer has declared Nawaz Sharif's nomination papers in order after scrutiny, he said what was the use of NAB informing the Election Commission about loan defaults of the Sharif's family and money laundering in Hudayyaiba Paper Mill case if the returning officers were not going to take that information into consideration.
He also said everyone knew that Sharif's family had taken huge loans from banking institutions and then defaulted on them. "Shahbaz Sharif in a loan request to Bank of Punjab had given personal guarantees for its repayment but refused to do so. Later, when Nawaz Sharif became Prime Minister 1997, they resorted to a unique arrangement not available to any other citizen of the country.
They ostensibly placed certain properties at the disposal of the Lahore High Court against their loans and declared that their loans have been paid off. This was a unique arrangement because the banks had not agreed to it, no correct evaluation of the properties had been done or decision made against which of the properties the loans would be adjusted. More importantly, no other defaulter of loans to banks had this facility or indeed luxury," he added.
According to him, not content with this strange and one-sided arrangement, the Sharif's have not allowed the LHC to dispose-off the properties placed with it by one delaying tactic or another. To date none of the loans have been adjusted. In the Huddabiya paper Mill case, the money laundering has been proven by a statement by none other than Ishaq Dar.
It is also a fact that the Sharifs are facing six NAB cases and by one stratagem or another they have not allowed these cases to be heard either. "Given this record, the Sharifs are a test case for the strict application of articles 62 and 63 and the so-called merciless scrutiny. If they, who are known loan defaulters and money launderers, are passed fit, then obviously the entire scrutiny process would be exposed as farce. Pakistan Tahreek-e-Insaf (PTI) strongly urges the Chief Election Commission to take notice of this situation. The party reserves the right to move the courts if the Sharifs are allowed to contest," he added.