ISLAMABAD: Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah said on Sunday that the government has given a go-ahead signal to the Federal Investigation Agency to arrest former finance minister of PTI Shaukat Tareen for his alleged role to sabotage government’s deal with IMF last year.
In August 2022, two audio leaks of Shaukat Tareen surfaced in which Tarin asked the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab finance ministers (belonging to the PTI), to write letters to the IMF telling it that they could not fulfill commitments to surplus budget in the wake of the catastrophic floods.
The motive of Shaukat Tareen was to stop the IMF from giving loans in August last year, said FIA.
Earlier, on Saturday the FIA approached the Ministry of Interior to get approval to arrest Shaukat Tareen.
The agency has sought permission from the Ministry of Interior to initiate legal proceedings by arresting Shaukat Tareen.
In 2022, Tareen’s audio surfaced in which he was asking the KP and Punjab finance ministers of PTI to write letters to IMF saying they were not in a position to fulfill the federal government’s commitments to the IMF.
According to FIA, former finance minister Tarin’s conversation was an effort to sabotage the coalition government’s deal with the IMF in a bid to harm the security and national interests of the country.
The agency has probed the matter and found the audio original involving Shaukat Tareen and two provincial finance ministers of PTI.
Tareen’s Audio leak
In August 2022, before the IMF’s board meeting, Tareen made telephone calls to former Punjab and KP finance ministers. He influenced them to write letters to the IMF to withdraw from their commitment to the surplus budget in the wake of devastating floods.
Though the IMF board approved $1.2 billion for Pakistan, the leaked audio defamed Pakistan and annoyed the coalition government which was struggling to save the country from default.
