ISLAMABAD: Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leader Senator Rehman Malik on Friday said that he had full faith in the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) consisting of “professional and competent” people, and added that he “doesn’t think the team will be unjust towards anyone”.
Talking to the media after his appearance before the JIT, formed to probe prime minister’s financial dealings abroad, Malik said that he had confirmed every word of his report – already submitted in the Supreme Court – including the two letters written to former president Rafiq Tarar.
He added that he had provided additional evidence to the JIT. He also criticised the ‘propaganda’ against his party, saying his political opponents had been claiming for the last 15 days that the PPP had entered into a deal to save Nawaz Sharif. “I am not here to save or entrap anyone… neither am I here to avenge anyone,” the former interior minister said.
The team had summoned Rehman Malik to appear for questioning regarding Sharif family’s Hudaibiya Papers Mills. According to details, the JIT had asked Malik to bring over a report on the past investigation into the Hudaibiya Paper Mills.
Taking a jibe at Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Chairman Imran Khan, Malik said that he was claiming the accountability of the Sharifs was an outcome of his struggle, but had forgotten it was him (Malik) who “prepared the pitch of the ground”.
Earlier, on reaching the Federal Judicial Academy, he had said during a media talk that he would do justice with the nation as well as his profession.
“After the documents I provide them [JIT] today, there will be no need [to get more evidence in the case],” he claimed.
Malik brought with him documents related to the case.
He said he was carrying two letters to the then president and necessary evidence [to the JIT], and also named the 10 investigators who were part of his team when he investigated Nawaz Sharif in the mid 1990s.
“I will only come out after the JIT is satisfied with all questions related to money laundering,” he added. “I’m a hockey player and today I will score a goal,” he said before proceeding inside.
The JIT, formed on May 6 in light of the Supreme Court’s April 20 judgement in the Panama case, is probing the Sharif family’s global financial assets.
Malik, a former bureaucrat, also served in the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) on various posts, and later became the agency’s director general.
He was investigating Nawaz Sharif for corruption during the second government of Benazir Bhutto in the mid-1990s while being in the FIA.
He is also a member of the Senate for the second time in a row from the PPP-Parliamentarians. At present, he chairs the Senate Committee on Interior and Narcotics while being a member of several others.
Earlier, Malik was asked to appear before the team on June 17 but he requested the JIT to reschedule the date, as he was not in the country.
Malik had claimed in a press conference that he would record his statement with full freedom before the JIT. The JIT will submit its complete investigation report to the Supreme Court’s special implementation bench on July 10.
Published in Daily Times, June 24th, 2017.
