PTI-PML(N) ‘Test series’ continues

PTI chief says Nawaz involved in $417 million corruption * Throws Nawaz challenge for a one-on-one debate

The blame game between Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) continued on Friday with PTI chief Imran Khan claiming that PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif was involved in $417 million corruption and challenging him to answer his 11 questions on TV. The questions, which he put forward in a press conference, pertained to Nawaz and his family’s alleged corruption. He said the PML-N chief owed Pakistani nation satisfactory answers to the questions he had raised. He asked why Sharif had not filed a lawsuit against author Raymond Decker, who in his book had held him responsible for a corruption of $417 million. Questioning Sharif over “negligible” tax payments while having property worth billions of rupees in the United Kingdom and Raiwind, he accused the PML-N chief of defaulting on bank loans worth Rs 6 billion. “Sharif family borrowed this money and never returned it,” he claimed. How much national exchequer was spent on Raiwind's palatial infrastructure, he asked. “Where did Sharif get money to purchase apartments in Mayfair area of the Great Britain?” Khan asked, adding that the property was estimated at Rs 6 billion. “Where did you get funds to build your Raiwind empire, worth billions of rupees?” he continued. He also raised questions about the funds Nawaz had got to launch Jeddah Steel Mills in Saudi Arabia while in exile.