ISLAMABAD: Communications Minister Murad Saeed, Sunday, claimed that the federal government saved three trillion rupees of the national kitty from different development projects through its "wise and prudent policies" under the leadership of Prime Minister Imran Khan.
Addressing a joint presser with Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry, Saeed said, "The decade (2008 to 2018) was the darkest period in Pakistan's history. This period saw the rise of horrifying tales of unprecedented corruption by the governments of two political parties."
The minister said the PM is not against motorways and other infrastructure projects. "But he is totally against building motorways by taking loans," he said.
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The PM has never been against the motorways -even the ones that were built by the Sharifs. The PM has always been against corruption-"the dirty money of billions of rupees the Sharifs made through shady deals out of motorways projects," Saeed said.
He said the PML-N government built the Lahore-Islamabad Motorway at a cost of Rs 60 billion by taking foreign loans. The interest on loans on this motorway was $ 2 billion, he said.
"The dirty money the Sharif family made from these shady deals helped them buy luxurious and most expensive properties abroad-like Avenfield Apartments. Where else did the money come from?" he asked.
The information minister said Sharif and Zardari families doubled Pakistan's loans in 10 years. "Loans were taken in the name of Pakistan-that money was shifted abroad and invested in personals businesses of Sharifs and Zardaris," he said.
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Chaudhry alleged that there are still billions of rupees stashed in London and France that belong to Sharifs and Zardaris.
"Whenever we dig deeper into any matter-we find that there are floodgates of corruption-unending stories of financial foul play.... and all this leads to their governments. Shehbaz Sharif says there is unprecedented inflation in the country. He is the one, the personal bank accounts of whose peons had $ 25 million," Chaudhry claimed.
Meanwhile, the information minister, Sunday, said, the government fully believed in the fundamental and democratic right to freedom of expression.
"Free, active and dynamic media is essential for strengthening democracy and promoting democratic values," he said in his message to journalists.
He said the government is taking all possible steps to protect the rights of journalists and media workers.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2021
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