£190m settlement case: Farogh Naseem refutes Imran Khan’s claims

• Naseem says cabinet meeting had no agenda on £190m settlement. 
• Says law ministry didn't send any summary or advice.
• British law expert says agreement was signed after govt’s approval.

ISLAMABAD: Senator Farogh Naseem has refuted Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan's claim that he, as the federal law minister during the party's tenure, had advised the former prime minister to transfer £190 million from UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA) to a Supreme Court's account.

The former law minister, who is also a member of Muttahida Qaumi Movement Pakistan (MQM-P), said no such agreement — the £190 million settlement — was on the agenda of a federal cabinet meeting cited by Imran Khan.

Naseem revealed this when contacted, said Geo News anchorperson on Tuesday night, while hosting his programme ‘Aaj Shahzeb Khanzada Kay Sath’.

The host said that Naseem shared that neither the Ministry of Law and Justice had sent any such summary, nor had he told the former premier that the money would get stuck in the UK if the agreement was not signed.

It was Khan himself who decided that the amount would be adjusted to the Supreme Court account, Naseem said, adding that everything on the issue was on the record.

Meanwhile, a prominent lawyer on British law, Barrister Rashad Aslam told the host that the NCA always contacts the government concerned before striking an agreement. He said that the NCA contacted the government of Pakistan on the matter of 190 million British pounds and the agreement was signed after the government’s approval.

He said that two agreements were signed and one of which — the Deed of Confidentiality — was signed by the government with the NCA, pledging that the contents would not be made public.

He added that the government had given a go-ahead to the signing of the agreement, meaning the amount would be transferred to the apex court's account. He said that it was the government's prerogative that they could have [asked NCA] to transfer the amount to any other account.

The lawyer said that under the United Nations convention, the amount was destined to land in Pakistan.