ISLAMABAD -UNS: Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah said on Sunday that the government had given the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) permission to arrest ex-finance minister PTI Senator Shaukat Tarin in a case pertaining to his alleged role in derailing the International Monetary Fund (IMF) deal.
Two audio leaks had surfaced in August last year in which a man, purportedly ex-minister Tarin, could be heard guiding Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab finance ministers, belonging to the PTI, to tell the coalition government in the Centre and the IMF that they would not be able to commit to a provincial budget surplus in light of the monsoon floods that wrought havoc across Pakistan.
In a notice issued to Tarin in September last year, the FIA said an inquiry had been initiated against his alleged role on the basis of the audio leak.
Informed sources told Dawn that the FIA, which completed a preliminary inquiry into Tarin’s audio leaks, saw his leaked conversations as an “attempt to disrupt” the IMF loan programme and funds, thereby causing harm to the national interest.
The FIA sought approval from the interior ministry to initiate legal proceedings against Tarin, leading to his arrest, the sources had added.
Commenting on the matter during a press conference in Karachi on Sunday, Sanaullah lashed out at PTI Chairman Imran Khan and alleged that since his ouster, the ex-premier had been “campaigning and making moves” to ensure that the country was subject to political instability so that it would ultimately default.
“For this purpose, he (Imran) also led astray a person like Shaukat Tarin who under his influence did something because of which Pakistan could’ve been hurt.
“The inquiry against him (Tarin) is complete, the FIA had asked permission to arrest him which the government has given and he should be punished for it so no one ever dares to do something like this again.”
