Lahore, Pakistan: All is set to honorably bail out Mirza Shahzad Akbar, the former Advisor to former prime Prime Minister Imran Khan on Interior and Accountability from a £190 million (Rs70 billion) corruption case.
Shahzad Akbar resides in the United Kingdom and is wanted by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) that had been issuing summons to him asking him to appear before NAB to answer questions in an alleged illegal transfer of 190 million pounds in the Al-Qadir Trust case. NAB claimed Shahzad Akbar concealed vital information from the federal cabinet while seeking approval for the previously signed deed. He is accused of being involved in various activities alongside former prime minister Imran Khan. NAB claims that on November 25th, 2019, an amount exceeding PKR 23.33 billion was transferred to Pakistan from the United Kingdom. Additionally, on November 26th, 2019, an amount exceeding PKR 3.99 billion was received from the United Kingdom. Moreover, on May 11th, 2018, an amount exceeding PKR 8.02 billion was deposited.
This was the amount seized from a real estate tycoon after a settlement in a UK police “dirty money” investigation. The National Crime Agency said the real estate tycoon agreed to the settlement that did “not represent a finding of guilt”. NCA investigators secured nine freezing orders that covered £140m in funds held in UK bank accounts after allegations that the cash may have been the proceeds of crime. The money and ownership of the central London property were consequently handed over to the government in Pakistan. Instead of being deposited into the national treasury, these funds were settled against Bahria Town’s dues ordered by the Supreme Court of Pakistan in a case of property issue in the province of Sindh.
According to sources, Shahzad Akbar during his tenure as Advisor to PM established effective networking within the civil bureaucracy, among media men and even among politicians and he also managed to install his men from the private sector into the public sector on contracts and this is the time they are being asked to manage his safe passage from cases he is facing. His networking is quite effective and heads important positions in the civil system and is managing support from bureaucrats who are involved in investigating cases against him, from PDM politicians, and from Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) through two of PPP advisors to PM Shehbaz Sharif. Sources also claim that a real estate tycoon whose payment was settled down through Shahzad Akbar is already in his comfort zone due to his contacts in power grids. Sources also claim that a number of PMLN federal ministers are also in contact with Shahzad Akbar through his network in Islamabad and are believed to helping him out of the cases.
Once Akbar gets out of the case, the case against the former PM would become void who has already transferred responsibility for the alleged crime to his former Cabinet that gave the approval for transferring money to the Supreme Court account. Sources claim that Akbar’s network in Islamabad is just waiting for the installation of an interim government at the federal level then it would manage to disintegrate Shahzad Akbar from this popular case as it has already managed support from interim setup in Punjab for Shahzad Akbar.
Meanwhile, Akbar claims that he has nothing to do with any corruption and he has not done anything wrong he did what he should have done under the law and if something happened wrong that was against the rules of Pakistan then the Pakistani cabinet is responsible for this.
In this case, former federal overseas minister Zulfiqar Bukhari is also out of the country and he is in the United States.
It is pertinent to mention that in the capacity of a Federal Minister in Cabinet, Shahzad Akbar served in National Accountability Bureau (NAB) as a deputy prosecutor.
