ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan, while citing French economist Frédéric Bastiat, on Sunday said that the money launderers behaved with indignation when they were questioned.
The prime minister, in a tweet, shared the saying of the renowned economist, who said, “When plunder becomes a way of life for a group of men in a society, over the course of time they create for themselves a legal system that authorizes it and a moral code that glorifies it.”
“The truth of this saying is reflected clearly in the way money launderers are treated and the way they behave with indignation when questioned,” the prime minister commented.
It is worth mentioning here that various Opposition leaders, including former president Asif Ali Zardari, currently face money laundering investigations.
In a meeting with Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting on April 7, PM Imran had said that amnesty given to Sharif family by former president General (r) Pervez Musharraf through a National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) led to the rise in money laundering.
The prime minister had directed Fawad to use the media to create awareness among the masses regarding the harmful effects of money laundering on the national economy. He had also asked him to expose the culprits through the media.
Criticising former rulers of the country, the prime minister had said that they had looted the country’s wealth and had buried it under piles of debt. “The former rulers will be held accountable for taking $60 billion in loans in the last 10 years,” he had said.
PM Imran had also said that constitutional amendments would help curb the menace of money laundering and other similar crimes in the country, adding that in the past, corrupt rulers robbed the nation of its wealth and laundered that money abroad.
The prime minister had also said that the chapter of money laundering would have been closed once and for all had General (r) Musharraf not given NRO to the Sharif family.
Recently, Pakistan also launched guidelines for countering money laundering.
