ISLAMABAD: Former Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) secretary general Jahangir Tareen Wednesday refuted the claim of a former party colleague he paid millions in household expenses every month to then-party chairman Imran Khan prior to the 2018 general elections.
“[…] the truth must be told […] I never gave a penny for the household expenses of Bani Gala [Khan’s residence in Islamabad],” he tweeted. “Just want to set the record straight.”
Regardless of the current status of my relationship with Imran khan, the truth must be told. I did whatever was in my capacity to help PTI in the quest to build a new Pakistan but I never gave a penny for the household expenses of Bani Gala. Just want to set the record straight.
— Jahangir Khan Tareen (@JahangirKTareen) December 15, 2021
He was responding to a claim made on television by Wajih ud-Din Ahmad, a retired Supreme Court judge and former chief election commissioner of the ruling party, that the sugar baron provided “up to Rs5 million every month” to Khan.
“This belief is entirely false that Imran Khan is a [financially] honest man,” Ahmad declared. “His condition is such that he has not been running his household himself for years.”
Ahmad resigned from the party in 2016 after falling out with Tareen and then-Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chief minister Pervez Khattak who he had accused of influencing the outcome of intra-party elections of 2013.
Tareen, a longtime confidant of Khan, fell out with the prime minister 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 declared sugar-producing units of Tareen’s JDW-Group were found guilty of “double billing” and “over-invoicing” as well as “corporate fraud”.
Tareen rejected the findings of the sugar inquiry commission and went to the United Kingdom before ending his self-exile seven months later in November 2020.
A seasoned politician, Tareen has repeatedly been credited with ensuring the PTI wins the throne in the 2018 elections.
In Wednesday’s tweet, he conceded he had done “whatever was in my capacity to help PTI in the quest to build a new Pakistan”.
