Summary Debt of BCCI was written off with help of Ziaul Haq's son, claims Kamran Khan
LAHORE (Dunya News) – Raising question over Qatari prince’s statement, Kamran Khan, President of Dunya Media Group has revealed on Wednesday that Mian Sharif’s mill in Dubai was rendering losses and the debt was written off with help of former dictator, General Ziaul Haq’s son.
In programme, ‘Dunya Kamran Khan Kay Sath’, the anchorperson revealed that Gulf Steel Mill owed 42 million to Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI) in Dubai which was written off after Mian Sharif convened a meeting with General Ziaul Haq in Dubai.
The development has come in after a letter of a prince of Qatar was presented before the Supreme Court (SC) on Tuesday claiming that flats in London were bought using the ‘investments’ by Sharif in Qatar.
According to Kamran Khan, statement of the Qatari prince has further tangled the Panama Leaks case as the premier earlier in March this year told the National Assembly (NA) that Gulf Steel Mill in Dubai was sold off to purchase a company in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia which then was sold in June 2005 for $17 million to invest in apartments in London.
Besides contradictions in statements, how could a company that was running in losses was used to eventually purchase flats in London, Kamran Khan asked.
The investigative journalist said that Ittefaq Group owned by Mian Sharif was taken hold of over under nationalization policy in 1972, a year after which, in 1973, Sharif family shifted to Dubai where with the help of BCCI and Bank of Oman, Gulf Steel Mill was established in 1974.
However, owing to upward revision of electricity prices in Dubai, the industry was adversely affected and rendered losses leading to non-payment of interest to the banks at the time.
At least 75 percent of shares of Gulf Steel Mill were sold off in 1978. In spite of change of ownership, around $2 million that was owed to the BCCI was yet to be paid off.
Meanwhile, former dictator, General Ziaul Haq met Mian Sharif in Dubai and informed him over possibility of privatization of his industry as nationalization policy was revoked thus Sharif family returned to Pakistan in 1980.
The return was made possible after Ijazul Haq, son of the former dictator, who then worked for Bank of Bahrain helped write off the debt Mian Sharif owed to BCCI.
Kamran Khan raised a question regarding AED 12 million investment of Mian Sharif in a real estate company in Qatar, as claimed in the letter of Qatari prince, given the fact that Gulf Steel Mill was losing money when it was sold.
It should also be mentioned here that according to a previous interview of premier’s son, a steel mill was bought in Saudi Arabia using the money obtained after selling off Gulf Steel Mill.
‘The question is whether the funds that were obtained after selling off Gulf Steel Mill were invested in Saudi Arabia or Qatar? The second question is how a bankrupted company could have helped Sharif family to make other investments.’
On the other hand, Kamran Khan also talked about wife of Chief Minister (CM) of Punjab, Tehmina Durrani’s recent messages on social media in which she stated that none of the three sons of Mian Sharif inherited the Knightsbridge flats as those did not belong to him.
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