Opposition leader in the National Assembly and president of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), Shehbaz Sharif, said Sunday he had “decided to file law suit against Daily Mail” after the tabloid published an investigative report allegedly revealing that he and his family were involved in money-laundering in Britain.
“The fabricated and misleading story was published at the behest of Imran Khan and Shahzad Akbar. We will also launch legal proceedings against them,” he wrote.
“Btw IK has yet to respond to three such cases I filed against him for defamation,” Sharif added in his tweet.
Earlier, the Daily Mail had reported that the UK’s Department for International Development (DIFD) had given Sharif and his government taxpayers’ cash and that he and his family were embezzling tens of millions of pounds of public money and laundering it to Britain.
The high-level probe was ordered by Prime Minister Imran Khan after he came into power last year.
The report stated: “After winning election on a pledge to combat corruption, Imran Khan set up a special team to deal with it, the Asset Recovery Unit, headed by a UK-educated barrister.
“They have examined a series of suspicious transactions running to many millions and shown that Shehbaz’s family’s assets grew enormously during the years he was in power,” it added.
The report further revealed that the Sharif family was worth just £150,000 in 2003 but, by 2018, their total assets had grown to about £200 million. “Among other properties, Shehbaz owns a 53,000 sq ft palace in Lahore, which has its own large security force,” the report said.
The DFID said it was “well aware” about Pakistan being “corrupt environment”. However, since 2014, it gave more aid to Islamabad than any other country — up to £463 million a year.
According to the report, the family’s legitimate income sources could not account for their riches. The money, it said, was channelled from abroad — via several elaborate money-laundering schemes, in which Britain played a central role.
