Shehbaz Sharif govt to check ex-PM Imran Khan's assets and income

After ousting Imran Khan from power and tackling his claims of corruption against opposition party leaders, the incumbent government of Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has decided to scrutinise the legality and value of the former premier's assets and income.

As per sources, the federal government has decided to launch a thorough inquiry and scrutiny of Khan's assets and income, including details of at least four of his employees, who are under the payroll of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and dig deeper into finding irregularities, which may be used to book the ousted leader on assets beyond means, undeclared income and illegal inflow of huge sum of funds from unknown sources and accounts.

The four PTI employees are Tahir Iqbal, Muhammad Noman Afzal, Muhammad Arshad and Mohammad Rafique.

"Records of huge sums of money into the private accounts of four PTI employees are being sought from the SBP and arrests will also be made in the light of the evidences," an informed source said about the development.

"Forensic examination of records will be carried out by independent auditors while FIA (Federal Investigation Agency) and FBR (Federal Board of Revenue) will take action by obtaining records at their respective levels."

The government has also decided to extend the scrutiny of Khan and his party's funding to foreign countries, from where, huge funds have been allegedly sent to various PTI accounts and members.

"The government has decided to write a letter to the International financial institutions for the record of PTI and Imran Khan's international bank accounts," the source said.

PTI is currently under scrutiny on charges of foreign funding from countries, including India and Israel. A case was filed by one of its founding members with the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) seeking a ban on the political party and also put Khan to trial for getting foreign funding for his campaigns.

"The record of PTI foreign funding from 2013 to 2022 is also being sought," the source revealed.

The Pakistan government had reached a data exchange agreement with the International financial institutions was reached during the tenure of former Finance Minister Ishaq Dar and the same will be used to take action in the current scrutiny process.

"Under the agreement, FBR has the legal authority to take records from foreign banks," the source confirmed.

Khan's income will also be scrutinised and any irregularity or illegality will be checked.

It seems that after Khan's three and a half years in power and consistent pursuit to book the Sharif and the Zardari families under charges of illegal assets beyond means and financial crimes, the former Prime Minister is now facing the same challenge by his political archrivals in power.

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