Pakistan's former prime minister Nawaz Sharif on Thursday has challenged the National Accountability Court (NAB) chairman Justice (retd) Javed Iqbal to present evidence of money laundering against him within 24 hours or else resign.
"NAB chairman should present all evidences they had against me within 24 hours. If you fail to present evidence, then you (Justice (retd) Javed Iqbal) should publicly apologise to the nation and resign," Nawaz said, while addressing an emergency press conference in Islamabad against the anti-graft body.
The emergency presser comes barely days after the World Bank denied the media reports claiming that its 2016 report on remittances mentioned that Pakistan's former prime minister Nawaz Sharif laundered 4.9 billion dollars to India, raising a question on the credibility of the anti-corruption watchdog.
Pakistan's National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has ordered an inquiry against former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and others for allegedly laundering 4.9 billion dollars to India, according to reports in the Pakistani media.
A statement by the NAB, which ordered the inquiry based on a media report, claimed that the amount was laundered to the Indian finance ministry after which Indian foreign exchange reserves witnessed an increase and Pakistan suffered as a result, reported Pakistan's Geo News.
According to the media report, the incident was mentioned in the World Bank's Migration and Remittance Book 2016.
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Stating that NAB has "lost all its credibility" following "baseless allegations", the former premier continued, "The severity of the allegations cannot be ignored. It has been proven how the head of an institution made my media trial a mission."
"My media trial and character assassination have become NAB's mission," said he.