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Pak Opposition demands probe against Sharief

Pakistani Opposition parties today demanded that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharief be investigated following a report in a British newspaper which accused him of tax evasion and siphoning millions of dollars from his country's coffers into personal bank accounts.

''Sharief is corrupt and should be thrown out of power,'' Munawar Hasan, general secretary of the Opposition Jamaat-e-Islami said.

''After this report the prime minister should resign, otherwise people will throw him out and take back every penny he plundered from the national wealth,'' he said.

The Observer, the British Sunday newspaper, quoted a report prepared by the Pakistan Federal Investigation Agency which said the Sharief family was involved in tax evasion, loan defaults and has 'phantom bank accounts'. It did not say what these accounts were.

Sharief's assets include four apartments in London's exclusive Mayfair district, worth more than $ 5 million while accounts and companies controlled by the prime ministers' family have been found to contain more than $ 70 million, the newspaper said on Sunday.

The 200-page report was given to the newspaper by FIA's former second-in-command, Rehman Malik.

Malik was arrested soon after Sharief returned to power, a move that came as apparent reprisal for his investigations of graft charges against Sharief during his first term. Malik was later released and fled to London in June after an assassination attempt.

In Islamabad, a government spokesman dismissed the allegations as 'wild, incorrect and malicious,' while Sharief's son, Hasan Nawaz said the report was baseless. There was no immediate comment from Sharief.

Meanwhile, Naseerullah Babar, interior minister in Benazir Bhutto's government, said the report came as no surprise.

''Whatever has appeared in The Observer is just the tip of the iceberg,'' he said. ''We had almost completed investigations against him, but then our government was sacked,'' Babar said.

''There is extensive proof that Sharief siphoned off millions of dollars from the country to buy property abroad.''

There are several corruption cases against Sharief pending in the courts, he said, adding that the prime minister had used his influence to suppress them.

''A criminal case should be initiated against Sharief on the basis of this report,'' he said.

Benazir Bhutto, who is also accused of graft and abuse of power, has demanded that an opposition senator be appointed to probe these allegations.

The Observer report comes as a blow to the Sharief government which faces an economic breakdown and growing opposition over a proposed constitutional amendment that would introduce strict Islamic laws.

Sharief, scion of a rich business family, first became prime minister in 1990. But his government was dismissed halfway through his five-year term in 1993 on charges of corruption.

The Sharief family's wealth is built around steel, paper, sugar and textile mills. His business empire grew when he was in power.

UNI

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