‘Pakistan mafia pressurises judiciary to keep laundered money safe’: PM

–PML-N VP Maryam Nawaz says PM himself is part of ‘mafia that pressurises judges into targeting and punishing political opponents’

LAHORE: A day after accountability judge Arshad Malik claimed in an affidavit that he was offered cash bribe by the Sharifs family and was later blackmailed him over a ‘Multan video’, Prime Minister Imran Khan likened Pakistani money laundering suspects to the Sicilian Mafia, who “use bribes, threats and blackmail to pressurise state institutions and the judiciary to protect illegal money”.

This was stated by the premier in a tweet linked with a four-year-old news article about a testimony given by former Italian president Giorgio Napolitano during a trial regarding bombings carried out by mobsters in the 1990s.

In a similar vein to the “Sicilian mafia”, the Pakistani mafia uses tactics of bribe, threat, blackmail and begging to pressurise state institutions and judiciary in order to protect their billions of money laundering stashed abroad.https://t.co/DcXWNZntq3

— Imran Khan (@ImranKhanPTI) July 13, 2019

The report also quoted Giorgio Napolitano saying that the attacks had been a form of “extortion or outright pressure aimed at destabilising the entire system.”

Linking the case with the situation in Pakistan, the prime minister remarked, “In a similar vein to the “Sicilian mafia”, the Pakistani mafia uses tactics of bribe, threat, blackmail and begging to pressurise state institutions and judiciary in order to protect their billions of money laundering stashed abroad.”

A few hours later, he again took to Twitter, quoting Hazrat Ali who said: “Poverty of the people is the desire of its ruler and officers to amass wealth and possessions whether by fair or foul means.”

The poverty of the people is the actual cause of the devastation and ruination of a country; & the main cause of the poverty of the people is the desire of its ruler and officers to amass wealth and possessions whether by fair or foul means
Hazrat Ali (AS)
Nahjul Balagha

— Imran Khan (@ImranKhanPTI) July 13, 2019

Taking a jibe at the prime minister, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz leader Maryam Nawaz called him out for being a “part of a mafia that pressurises judges into targeting and punishing its political opponents”.

Taking to Twitter, Maryam said, “You’re a part of the mafia that pressurises judges into targeting and punishing your political opponents. It is you who used the institutions to settle scores with your opponents and defaced and maligned them in the process. Shame on you.”

The tweets came in the background of a leaked video of an accountability court judge, who had reportedly confessed he had been “pressurised and blackmailed” to convict Maryam’s father in the Al-Azizia case.

A video containing the judge’s alleged confession during his conversation with a ‘sympathiser’ of the PML-N, Nasir Butt, was screened during a hurriedly-called presser at the party’s provincial headquarters in Model Town, Lahore.

SHOCKING CLAIMS:

Meanwhile, Justice Malik, in an affidavit submitted to the IHC CJ, made shocking claims pertaining to the corruption references against Nawaz.

He claimed that PML-N representatives Nasir Janjua and Mahar Jilani had offered him hefty bribes in exchange for a favourable verdict in the corruption references and had threatened him with dire consequences if he failed to comply.

“Nasir Janjua claimed that he had the cash of equivalent of Rs100 million in Euros for me immediately available out of which the Euro equivalent of Rs20 million was laying in his car parked outside,” he said, adding that he denied the bribe while remaining committed to giving the verdict on merit.

He said that the bribe was soon followed by a threat of physical harm from Nasir Butt, who had told him that “Mian Nawaz Sharif had helped him avoid punishment for 4-5 murders he had committed and he was willing to go to any extent to help Mian Sahib in the trials he was facing”.

He said that later in 2019, he met with Khurram Yousaf and Nasir Butt, who told him about the existence of a video clip of him in a compromising position which was allegedly taken during the time he was working in Multan. The judge said that he denied the authenticity of any such video.

Justice Malik said that he was again approached by Nasir Butt who asked him to “record an admission of guilt for Nawaz’s pleasure” which would be deleted after the former premier has heard it. He said that he complied because of the blackmailing he was facing. The former premier, he added, was not satisfied with the audio and asked to meet the judge himself.

He said that he met the former premier at his Jati Umra residence on April 6, 2019, where he told Nawaz that the decision was on merit. “Nawaz was obviously displeased by my response,” he added.