LAHORE: PML-N information secretary Marriyum Aurangzeb has accused Prime Minister Imran Khan of using the influence of his office to ‘tamper with’ the official record vital to different “mega scams” surfacing during the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf government.

“Imran Khan used his office to tamper with the record of Rs400bn sugar, Rs200bn flour, Rs122bn LNG and Rs500bn medicines scams. He [PM] also abused his power to alter the record of illegal foreign funding and the 23 secret accounts cases,” Ms Aurangzeb said in a statement here on Tuesday.

She further alleged that Imran Khan was also involved in changing the record of Rs126bn Peshawar BRT, Malam Jabba cases, and the illegal use of an official helicopter.

“He [Imran] is also busy tampering with the record of billions misappropriated in the Rawalpindi-Islamabad Ring Road corruption case,” she said and added Imran “patronised theft” and ran a circus of “eyewash inquiries and drama resignations” of his ministers.

“Imran Khan approved the extension of the ring road himself, issued directives to the [Punjab] chief minister and then threw others under the bus. There is no reason to blame the minister when the actual culprit, the approving authority, is Imran himself…why shouldn’t Imran be arrested in this scam,” she said.

Dubbing the premier Khan as “king of corruption”, she said as long as he was not apprehended, the PML-N won’t see any inquiry as legal.

“As long as Imran Khan is in power no inquiry can be transparent,” she added.

She said the government’s request to place PML-N president Shehbaz Sharif’s name on the ECL had already been rejected by both the Lahore High Court and Supreme Court.

“By stopping Shehbaz from going to the UK, the PTI has not only violated court orders, but also committed contempt of court. Opening up offices on Eid holidays shows how desperate and blinded Imran Khan has been left by his prejudice and appetite for political victimisation,” she said.

Nawaz tweets for Hashmi

PML-N supreme leader Nawaz Sharif has chided the Punjab government for what he called political victimisation of vetran leader Javed Hashmi.

“The government tried to make an example of Javed Hashmi by violating chadar aur char dewari (sanctity of his privacy). But this fascist act like in the past will fail,” the ousted prime minister said in a tweet.

A district administration team on Monday had demolished a few commercial buildings and a marriage hall said to be owned by Zahid Bahar Hashmi, the son-in-law of the veteran politician in Multan.

The Hashmi family, however, alleges that besides the marriage hall, two poultry farms, walls of an educational institution and a residence of the family were also razed using the state machinery.

Published in Dawn, May 19th, 2021