IMF letter: FIA summons Shaukat Tarin to probe Jhagra audio call

ISLAMABAD: The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) on Tuesday summoned former finance minister and PTI leader Shaukat Tarin over his audio call to Khyber Paktwnkha Finance Minister Taimoor Saleem Jhagra to write a letter to International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Tarin has been asked to appear before the agency at 10:00am on September 21.

"If you failed to appear, it would mean that you have nothing to say in your defence," read the FIA notice.

Last month, ahead of IMF’s board meeting to approve Pakistan’s bailout package, the PTI leader made telephone calls to Punjab and KP finance ministers asking them to write letters to IMF withdrawing from the commitment for the surplus budget.

The audio leaks endorsed the view that a letter written by the KP finance minister to Miftah Ismail in August threatening to withdraw from the IMF commitment was a deliberate effort to sabotage the government’s efforts to stabilize the economy.

In the leaked audio, Shaukat Tarin can be heard asking Jhagra if he had written the letter.

“I am on the way. I have the previous letter. I will send the letter to you after drafting it,” the KP finance minister replied.

Tarin directed Jhagra that the key point of his letter should be the flood devastation in the province.

“First point [of the letter] would be that we need huge financial aid for restoration of infrastructure and rehabilitation of flood affectees,” Tarin told the KP finance minister, adding that he has already briefed Punjab’s Finance Minister Muhammad Mohsin Khan Leghari about it.

“By the way, this is a blackmailing tactic,” he admitted, adding that nobody gives money.

Tarin directed the KP finance minister to dispatch the letter that day. He maintained that a copy of the letter would be forwarded to the IMF.