ISLAMABAD: A application filed with the Supreme Court has accused ex-prime minister Nawaz Sharif of laundering billions of rupees through livestock gifts sent to the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, according to a report published in local media outlet.
“Two to three thousand live animals are exported as a gift on a single NOC. These animals are … sold in the commercial markets of the Gulf states. In these gifts, black money is paid for buying these live animals and when these animals are exported and commercially sold in the UAE and Gulf states, laundered money is paid in offshore accounts,” the application states, claiming a total loss to the tune of Rs6.102 billion to the exchequer.
Citing an example, the applicant claimed that 2,500 cattle head worth $2.5 million were sent from Pakistan to Saudi Arabia to a member of the royal family in September last year, the report said.
A livestock businessman, Syed Fazli Qayum, has requested the court to implead him as a party in the case of Rs35 billion fake bank accounts scam wherein former president Asif Ali Zardari and his sister Faryal Talpur are also named.