A London-based investigative journalist James D Crickton has claimed former army generals Pervez Musharraf and Ashfaq Parvez Kayani possess multi-million dollar Swiss bank accounts.
While investigating into offshore accounts of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s family, Crickton found that both the former army chiefs have several million dollars stashed away in Swiss bank accounts.
“I stumbled upon this information accidentally as I was trying to find out how and why Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who hails from a rich business family, has allowed himself to be embroiled in the Panama Leaks controversy unearthed by intrepid international investigative journalists. The charge is that his family members had deposited money in shell companies located in Panama, and used that money to buy properties. It is also said that his daughter Maryam Nawaz owns properties in Peru and Singapore. Sharif critics have not proved thus far that these assets have been acquired with ill-gotten wealth,” he wrote in his blog.
Crickton further claimed that Musharraf and Kayani are holding separate accounts in a Swiss bank, Julius Baer, with the account numbers 3861337 and 583106 respectively.
Musharraf’s account, he claims, is maintained by the Star Trust Company. The former president’s account allegedly had several million dollars around the time he was briefly arrested in October 2013. However, presently the balance in the account is $2 million.
Kayani’s Swiss bank account is maintained by his brother’s UAE-based firm, J&B Construction Company. “The balance in the account is several million US dollars,” Crickton claimed, quoting his sources.
COURTESY: BUSINESS STANDARD