ISLAMABAD: The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has sought permission from the Ministry of Interior to arrest PTI leader and former finance minister Shaukat Tarin over his alleged leaked audio call in which he asked former Khyber Pakhtukhwa minister Taimoor Saleem Jhagra to write a letter to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to pressurise the coalition government.
Reports said the agency has completed investigation into the case and decided to initiate legal action against the finance czar for his alleged attempt to disrupt the IMF loan programme. The FIA also concluded that Tarin wanted to damage national interest and security.
The audio leader had been sent to the FIA for investigation by the PDM-led government, which is scrambling to revive the loan programme amid depleting foreign exchange reserves.
The controversy surfaced last year in August when Tarin asked the then Punjab and KP ministers to backtrack from IMF commitments ahead of the final meeting of the global lender for approval of loan for the South Asian country facing severe economic crisis.
In the phone call, Pakistan’s former finance chief is apparently asking Mohsin Leghari and Taimur Jhagra to do a volte-face citing provincial surplus.
The Pakistani senator can be heard asking KP finance minister Taimoor Jhagra if he had written the letter on which the latter responded to him, saying he will send the letter soon as he drafts it.
Tarin then told KP finance chief to highlight flood devastation in the letter. The first point would be about the release of quick funds for the restoration of infrastructure and rehabilitation of flood affectees.
He even equated the move to a blackmailing tactic, adding that nobody gave money without gambits.
