LAHORE: Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Accountability Mirza Shahzad Akbar on Saturday said the sugar inquiry report is a charge sheet against Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz President Shahbaz Sharif and former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi.
Addressing a press conference here on Saturday, SAPM Akbar said that Prime Minster Imran Khan gave permission for the export of the commodity not for the subsidy.
"There was ample sugar stock in the country when the export was allowed," Akbar said and added the price was high in the international market at that time.
He said that the sugar inquiry report was made public as soon as it was received from the commission.
“I will prove whatever Shahid Khaqan Abbasi said was a white lie and they [opposition leaders] are misleading the nation about the report, which is a landmark development.”
Abbasi, earlier in the day, had accused the government of supporting sugar barons and said, "[PM] Imran, [former finance minister] Asad Umar, and [Punjab Chief Minister] Usman Buzdar are the real culprits behind the sugar scam."
"The PTI government seems to be getting swept away with this sugar issue," he had remarked.
He said that case should be lodged against him and the prime minister.
Reacting to Abbasi’s criticism, Akbar stated that for the first time ministers had appeared before an inquiry commission and testified.
Turning his guns towards the former prime minister, the premier's aide said that the inquiry report has "exposed Abbasi" who doled out Rs20 billion subsidy to the sugar mills owners on a 24-hour notice due to Salman Shahbaz.
"Abbasi failed to provide any document or give a satisfactory reply to the panel's questions."
PM's aide on accountability said that 50 percent of the sugarcane procured during the year 2017-19 was not declared nor the sugar produced from it was shown in the papers.
"Business was done on ‘kachi parchi’ in Al-Arabia Mills [owned by Shahbaz Sharif's sons]," he said.
Akbar also called for a financial audit of other cartels "sucking people's blood" in the country.
"The forensic report has discussed all the mills," he said.
"Farmers and consumers are in bad condition while the mills' owners are flourishing."
Akbar said that the government will introduce a mechanism under which the sugar price will be brought down.
Meanwhile, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) spokesperson Marriyum Aurangzeb Saturday demanded removal of Prime Minister Imran Khan.
In a statement, she said the missing premier was in charge of the health department, which had been given on contract by the federal government.
Marriyum said the incompetent and corrupt government had changed four health secretaries in three months, while the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) had become a victim of the PM’s ego and had not yet become fully functional.
“The inept government has destroyed the health department just like all other sectors,” she alleged.
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