Pakistan govt to investigate income, assets of former PM Imran Khan: Report

The Pakistani government led by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has decided to do a forensic examination of the statements of assets and income of ousted premier Imran Khan, according to a media report on Friday.

The government has also decided to get the bank account details of four employees of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Central Secretariat, who were identified as Tahir Iqbal, Mohammad Noman Afzal, Mohammad Arshad, and Mohammad Rafique, The News International newspaper quoted sources as saying.

The records of huge sums of money coming into the private accounts of four employees of PTI led by Khan are being sought from the central bank of Pakistan, according to sources, and arrests will also be made in the light of the evidence.

According to government sources, the record of the former ruling party’s foreign funding between 2013 and 2022 is also being sought.

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Forensic examination of records will be carried out by independent auditors while Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) and Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) will take action by obtaining records at their respective levels, sources added.

The sources said the government agencies have decided to write a letter to international financial institutions for the record of the PTI as well as the party supremo’s international bank accounts.

According to the report, an action will be taken under a data exchange agreement reached during the tenure of former Finance Minister Ishaq Dar.

As per the agreement, the FBR has the legal authority to take records from foreign banks.

Sources also said that records of other foreign bank accounts including US, UK, Canada, Norway, Finland, New Zealand and Australia will be obtained.

The federal government has also decided to scrutinise the cricketer-turned-politician’s statements and income, the paper reported.

The ousted party and the former prime minister are currently under scrutiny on the charges of foreign funding from countries.

Any irregularity in assets and income may be used by PTI’s arch-rival and the incumbent Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party to charge the ousted premier with assets beyond means, undeclared income and illegal inflow of huge sum of funds from unknown sources.

The cricketer-turned-politician won the general election in 2018 promising to eradicate corruption from Pakistan. His government filed several corruption cases against former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and his younger brother and current Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. The Sharifs have claimed that the corruption cases against them were politically motivated.