PTI leader rejects allegations
TLTP
LAHORE
The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has booked Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Jahangir Khan Tareen, his son Ali Tareen, son-in-law and other members of the family in two cases for alleged financial embezzlement and sugar scandal.
The FIA investigation team registered the first case of alleged fraud of Rs3.14 billion on March 22 against them. The FIR states that Jahangir Tareen allegedly transferred illegal shares worth billions of rupees to Farooqi Pulp Mills Limited (FPML), which is owned by his son and close relatives.
It says the transfers, especially after 2011-12, were “patently fraudulent investments which ultimately translated into personal gains” for Jahangir’s family. Some Rs3 billion were invested and laundered through the same factory.
The FIR outlines when and how FPML was made back in 1991. It includes sections 406, 420 and 109 of the Pakistan Penal Code with Section 3/4 of Anti-Money Laundering Act, 2010.
The investigation agency has also charged Tareen and others for illegal hoarding of sugar, misappropriation and cheating in the FIR. The FIA in another FIR charged that Amir Waris, a confidante of Tareen, made illegal transactions from the company accounts and withdrew over two billion rupees. Waris illegally deposited the amount in personal accounts of Jahangir Tareen and his family members.
“During the inquiry a fake account was also found, which was used for around six billion rupees illegal transactions,” the FIR read. “The fake account was used for transactions in accounts of various companies of Jahangir Tareen.”
“The probe found that the company’s chief Rana Naseem acted as main aide and made over Rs600 million transactions from JWD’s accounts”.
Rana Naseem has claimed that the transactions were made for payment of salaries and bonuses, while the company had been in deficit for the last five years, according to the FIR.
The FIA has charged in the FIR that Jahangir Tareen, Amir Waris and Rana Naseem have been involved in money laundering.
Talking to a private news channel, Jahangir Tareen said that the allegations by FIA are “baseless”. He said a private audit firm has already validated the accounts of his companies. The PTI leader took the position that all the shares were transferred in accordance with the law and accounts law.
Last year, Prime Minister Imran Khan had tasked the FIA to investigate the sugar crisis throughout the country and find out who benefited from it. A report by the FIA released last year had claimed that top PTI members were among those who gained from the recent sugar crisis in the country.
It is to mention here that the FIA Lahore office had summoned the representatives of sugar mills’ managements from March 31 and directed them to bring relevant records of sugar stocks sold through the betting mafia from November 2020. The agency had also issued call-up notice to JWD Sugar Mills of Jahangir Tareen for April 2.
