LAHORE– Former federal minister and PML-N stalwart Khawaja Muhammad Asif has been arrested in execution of warrants of arrest issued by Chairman NAB Justice Javed Iqbal.
The accused will be produced before an Accountability Court, Islamabad for acquision of transit remand before his production before Accountability Court, Lahore.
Accused Kh Asif has allegedly committed offences of corruption and corrupt practices as defined u/s (v) of NAO-1999 and Section -3 of Anti Money Laundering Act (AMLA) 2010 as he accumulated assets disproportionate to his known sources of income and laundered such assets by concealing the origin and nature of assets .
Accused Kh Asif became public office holder in the year 1991 as member Senate of Pakistan , and subsequently remained MNA and Federal Minister on various occasions. Before holding public office in 1991 his net worth was Rs 5.1 million, while after holding public office he acquired assets worth Rs 221 million approximately ( traced so far ) till 2018 which are disproportionate to his known sources of income .
Accused claimed to have received Rs 130 million approximately as salary income from an employment in UAE with a company named M/S IMECO, however, he failed to provide any documentary evidence for receipt of said salary which shows that a fake source of income was created by him to justify his alleged ill-gotten assets.
Accused Kh Asif has been operating a benami firm Tariq Mir and Co in the name of his low wage employee Tariq Mir , more than Rs 400 Million was deposited in cash in the bank account of Tariq Mir and Company without having any plausible source of funds .
His case of foreign employment as federal minister was subject matter in proceedings before honourable superior courts, whereby it was held that there was no conflict of interest in holding private / foreign job.
However, NAB ‘s inquiry was to ascertain whether his foreign job /source of income was genuine or otherwise. Inquiry has revealed that during his so called foreign employment he was present in Pakistan, and the documents of employment were managed by him only to create a fake source of income in order to launder and whiten his unexplained funds. He could not provide documentary evidence of receipt of salary from foreign employer.— PRESS RELEASE
