The judgment at the centre of the controversy created by UK-based asset recovery firm Broadsheet LLC’s case against the government of Pakistan (on behalf of NAB) clearly observes that “It is clear…that the possible recovery from them (Sharif family) was far greater than from any other person or family, and this was known to the Respondents from 2000 when the settlement that permitted their exile to Saudi Arabia was negotiated and agreed.”
This negates Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s (PML-N’s) position on the matter, which is that former prime minister Nawaz Sharif was exonerated by the London High Court. In fact, it is clearly the overwhelming burden of proof in favour of the case against Nawaz Sharif that has emboldened Broadsheet LLC’s owner, Kaveh Moussavi, to approach Islamabad more than once to trade his information for a cut in the eventually recovered amount.
There is also no mention at all about any sort of political victimisation that PML-N says Nawaz was, and is, subjected to. And, far more to the point, the judgment also does not say in any way or at any place that Nawaz was not corrupt. Therefore, PML-N’s attempt to spin the judgment for the payout of $29 million is at best a weak attempt to turn the spotlight away from itself. So much is clear enough, but so is the fact that the ball is now in the government’s court. And the fact that it doesn’t seem too interested in pursuing the matter contractually with Broadsheet LLC is a big surprise in itself. For two decades Imran Khan has accused the Sharif family, among other prominent political families of Pakistan, of corruption and money laundering. For two years it has tried to squeeze at least some of that allegedly stolen money out of them. And now that it has a very solid lead to follow.
Now another twist has been added to the story by the revelation by Kaveh Moussavi that at least one member of the Pakistani delegation that met him in London a couple of years ago was more interested in knowing if he could somehow secure a small cut for himself than what information was on offer. The prime minister has constituted an inter-ministerial committee to gather what information it can from Broadsheet LLC and make names of all people involved in money laundering public.
All eyes will now be on what this committee brings back, especially since Nawaz Sharif is not the only man to be part of Broadsheet LLC’s investigation and Moussavi also dropped a few hints, during an interview a few days ago, about at least one member of the present government who might also have got his hands dirty in the past. So the coming days will test the PTI’s credibility as well as its impartiality.
It is unfortunate that the Musharraf regime halted this investigation half-way through just because it was able to work out a deal with a few members of the Sharif family. Yet it would still have helped if Broadsheet had come out with this earlier instead of sitting on all the information for so long.
Now the PTI government has the opportunity to make sure that it reaches a proper conclusion. It remains to be seen how genuine Moussavi’s story is, of course, but if his firm is in possession of further proof of the Sharif family’s corruption, money laundering and also an offer to bribe to influence an investigation, then everybody should see it.
If not, then all those using this information to draw political mileage and score points should be taken to task for everybody to see as well. It is now for the government to see how this matter proceeds.
