In a startling revelation, London-based investigative journalist James D Crickton has claimed former army generals Pervez Musharraf and Ashfaq Parvez Kayani possess multi-million dollar Swiss bank accounts.
In his blog on World Press Platform, Crickton said he came to know that the two former army chiefs have several million dollars stashed away in Swiss bank accounts while he was investigating into offshore accounts of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s family.
“I tumbled upon this information accidentally as I was trying to find out how and why Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who hails from a rich business family, has allowed himself to be embroiled in the Panama Leaks controversy unearthed by intrepid international investigative journalists. The charge is that his family members had deposited money in shell companies located in Panama, and used that money to buy properties. It is also said that his daughter Maryam Nawaz owns properties in Peru and Singapore. Sharif critics have not proved thus far that these assets have been acquired with ill-gotten wealth,” he wrote.
During the course of his investigations into Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s illegal accounts, Crickton claimed that former president Musharraf and former army chief Kayani are holding separate accounts in a Swiss bank, Julius Baer. The journalist quoted sources as saying that the account number of the two former Pakistani army chiefs are 3861337 and 583106.
Musharraf’s account, he claims, is maintained by the Star Trust Company. The former president’s account allegedly had several million dollars around the time he was briefly arrested in October 2013. However, presently the balance in the account is $2 million.
Kayani’s Swiss bank account is maintained by his brother’s UAE-based firm, J&B Construction Company. “The balance in the account is several million US dollars,” Crickton claimed, quoting highly-placed sources.
From January this year, General Kayani has been in the headlines because of his brother Kamran Kayani, who is also a retired army officer. The army has ordered a probe into allegations that Kamaran became “a millionaire and then a billionaire during the extended tenure of his brother” as chief of army staff.
Crickton’s sources have identified the account numbers of the two generals. While Musharraf’s is given as 3861337, Kayani’s is said to have 583106 according to the London-based investigative journalist.
Money kept by Pakistani nationals in Swiss banks has risen by 16 percent standing at 1.5 billion francs (PKR 161bn), revealed the latest data released by Swiss National Bank (SNB).
According to Economic Times, the total amount of funds belonging to Pakistan in Swiss banks stood at CHF 1,513 million at the end of 2015, up over 16pc from CHF 1,301 billion, in 2014.
In doing so, Pakistanis have even left behind next door neighbor Indians, claimed the report. The amount held by Pakistanis include funds of nearly CHF 1,477 mn (PKR 158 bn) held direct by Pakistani nationals and CHF 36 million (PKR 3.6 bn) held through fiduciaries.
The amount of Indian related funds in Swiss banks has fallen for the second consecutive year and stood at CHF 1,217 million at the end of 2015, posting a drop of 33pc.
This is been the second straight year, where Pakistani related funds have witnessing a rise in Swiss banks, that has defied the global trend, as several major economies i.e. USA and China saw declining of funds in Swiss banks, in the wake of international clampdown against Switzerland’s banking secrecy laws.
However, it should also be noted that the total funds linked to Pakistan in Swiss banks stood at a record high level of CHF 3.43 billion in the year 2001, which has come down considerably since then, revealed the SNB data.
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Corruption