Imtiaz Hydari, one of the chief persons against whom Khawaja Asif of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leveled allegations of corruption, financial embezzlement, money laundering, misuse of charity money, fraud and other allegations of the same nature the other day, has vehemently denied all allegations and has given his side of the story to clear his name, and that of the Shaukat Khanum Memorial Trust (SKMT) and Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf leader Imran Khan.
He said that he was amazed at the “Sherlock Homes-style performance of Khawaja Asif” on television.
He pointed out to the facts at the heart of the issue, saying that all the figures and reports were publicly available. He said that SKMT made a long-term real estate investment with HBG in 2008. The decision by SKMT to invest with HBG was not a speculative play, but a long-term investment based on sound judgment of the market fundamentals.
“It is of course a fact that Imran Khan had nothing to do with the decision as it was taken by the investment committee of the board of directors. I, being a director in SKMT at that time, refrained from voting to avoid a conflict of interest.”
He said such investments were a common business practice around the world and had nothing to do with ‘benami’ transaction.
He further explained that due to the severe problems in the real estate market following the global economic crisis, it was rightly decided to defer the project. “To protect SKMT investment, HBG will offer by higher percentage shareholding of SKMT in Sugarland BVI to compensate the reduced value of Sugarland shares. HBG has also provided an undertaking to assist SKMT’s exit from the investment with Capital Protected,” he said.
He then went on to offer point by point replies to Khawaja Asif’s allegations:
Khawaja had claimed it to be a case of money laundering. Imtiaz emphatically denied it saying that investment was not transferred out of Pakistan, that it was not for any personal gain and that the investment was from the Endowment Fund not Zakat money.
On Khawaja’s allegation of an attempt to hide the transaction, he says it is publicly disclosed on SKMT’s website, ironically from where they have taken it up, totally out of context.
Regarding the allegation of a special purpose vehicle (SPV) with an offshore jurisdiction being benami, he said that the entities in that investment had names and had declared shareholders who were audited by one of the four largest accounting firms.
On this investment being speculative and the real estate worthless, he said that it was nto the case, as I have already explained. This was prime land in prime location with excellent development potential.
Khawaja’s allegations of the investment having lost value resulting in a major loss for SKMT, Imtiaz Hydari said that no loss had been recorded even though impairment had taken place as explained above.
Next he says that Khaja’s allegations of capital protection/guarantee issued by a corporate entity being worthless are totally worthless in themselves. Khawja Asif should have first made some inquiries as to the worth, stature and standing of the investment handling corporate entity.
He said that after being unable to defend the allegations against their own leadership, the PML-N was doing this to embroil Imran Khan, the cleanest and most honest political leader in the country, in some sort of controversy and corruption. It would only hurt them in the end, and the poor people of Pakistan who thought of SKMT as a ray of hope.