Tareen says trip to UK not political

LONDON: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf leader Jahangir Tareen, who arrived in the United Kingdom Monday afternoon, dispelled rumours suggesting he was in the country to meet leaders from the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz or the Pakistan Peoples Party to discuss options for his political future.

Speaking to Geo News, Tareen, a former confidante of the prime minister, said he undertook the visit for "private reasons".

“I am in London for two weeks for a medical checkup and other engagements. No political engagements have been planned [...] and there is no political scheme [that] I have in mind," he told the publication.

"I will see my doctors, friends, and associates but in a private capacity."

Tareen has been facing cases of corporate fraud and money laundering filed against him by the Federal Investigation Agency in March this year.

In March, months after he returned from the United Kingdom on the reported assurance of a "fair trial" in the sugar scandal, two first information reports (FIRs) were registered under sections 406 (criminal breach of trust), 420 (cheating of public shareholders), and 109 of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) — with sections 3 and 4 of the Anti-Money Laundering Act, 2010.

One of the cases claims Tareen transferred Rs3.14 billion from the accounts of his JDW-Group to Faruki Pulp Mills Limited (FPML), a company said to be owned by his son and a relative. The money was then transferred to the accounts of his family members.

He, however, rejected the charges and denied any wrongdoing.

Tareen had returned to Pakistan in November after ending his seven-month-long self-imposed exile after falling out with Prime Minister Imran Khan following an inquiry into the last year’s sugar scandal that accused several sugar producers — including him — of “underreported sales and fraud”.

At the time, Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Accountability Mirza Shahzad Akbar had declared sugar-producing units under the JDW-Group were found guilty of “double billing” and “over-invoicing” as well as “corporate fraud”.

Tareen had rejected the findings of the Sugar Inquiry Commission. “I am shocked at the kind of false allegations levelled against me. I have always run a clean business. All Pakistan knows I always pay full price to my growers,” he had said in a tweet.