Sharifs are architects of corruption: Raja Riaz
11 December, 2012
LAHORE: Terming Nawaz Sharif and Shahbaz Sharif pioneer and mastermind of corruption in the country, Pakistan People's Party (PPP) leader Raja Riaz said on Monday all development funds allocated for other districts of Punjab were being used in Lahore and for the purpose developmental work in other districts have been suspended.
Flanked by PPP Deputy Parliamentary Leader in the Punjab Assembly Shaukat Basra, Ahsanul Haque Nolatia and Makhdoom Irtaza, the opposition leader was talking to reporters at the Punjab Assembly's cafeteria. Riaz said the spending on "Jangla Bus Service" (Metro Bus Service) had exceeded to Rs 70 billion from initial estimate of Rs 32 billion and Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif has a 20 to 25 percent commission from the contract.
He also alleged that Shahbaz Sharif and company were getting a 40 percent commission from the Lahore Waste Management Company, adding that the CM granted the contract to a Turk company at Rs 7 billion, whereas the total annual contract of the LWMC was Rs 2 billion. He asked the chief justice of Pakistan to take suo motu notice of this unprecedented corruption scandal.
The PPP leader said Shahbaz's repeated tours of Turkey were good for nothing, adding that the "corruption king" was working for his kickbacks. He said that the Punjab CM was a stubborn child and because of his non-flexible attitude the public service projects like a surgical tower at Mayo Hospital Lahore, a hospital in Gujranwala and Dental College at Jubillee Town Lahore could not be meterialised, as all the allocated funds were spent on MBS project.
Citing the examples of Shahbaz government's nepotism and corruption, Riaz said that Justice Khalil Ramdey's son Mustafa Ramdey was paid Rs 3.2 million from the Lahore Development, and similarly the son of former LHC chief justice Khawaja Sharif was paid a hefty amount in advance from the Law Department.
Shaukat Basra also levelled allegations on Hamza Shahbaz and Punjab Assembly Deputy Speaker Rana Mashhood Ahmed Khan for embezzling Rs 2 billion in the name of the Punjab Sports Festival. He asked the CJP to take notice of this corruption too. Talking about recent by-elections in Punjab, Basra said that judges did stop Faryal Talpur to persuade voters in Sindh but in Punjab Hamza Shahbaz, Maryam Nawaz and Captain (r) Safdar were using government resources openly to persuade voters.
Ahsanul Haque Nolatia said that the project in which iron usage is required in bulk gets Punjab cabinet's approval within no time. He said that no open tenders were called for MBS project, while the contract was given at more than 16 percent high rates. Calling Shahbaz Sharif the Punjab chief minister of 80 million people of the province was an insult to the Punjabis, rather the CM should be called the mayor of Lahore.
To a question, Riaz said that the Sharif brothers have been declared registered accommodators in Asghar Khan case. To another question, Raja said that whenever the interim set up would be established, action would be taken against the Sharifs and their final destination would be either jail or Jeddah.
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