Islamabad (Web Desk): Prime Minister Imran Khan has said that the Pakistani mafia uses Sicilian mafia-like tactics to pressurise institutions in order to protect their illegal money.
In a tweet on Saturday, PM Imran said, “In a similar vein to the 'Sicilian mafia', the Pakistani mafia uses tactics of bribe, threat, blackmail and begging to pressurise state institutions and judiciary in order to protect their billions of money laundering stashed abroad.”
PM Imran's tweet came after the accountability court judge Arshad Malik, who was removed from his post on Friday, claimed that he was offered Rs500 million cash bribe by the son of former premier Nawaz Sharif to resign after announcing the Al-Azizia reference verdict.
The judge, in an affidavit submitted to the Islamabad High Court (IHC) claimed that two persons, including Nasir Janjua and Mahar Jilani, have been meeting him since he was appointed Accountability Court-II Judge Islamabad and demanding him to give the decision in favour of Nawaz Sharif in HME and Flagship.
Reacting to PM Imran’s tweet, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) vice president Maryam Nawaz said that Imran himself was “part of a mafia that targets political opponents”.
In her tweet, Maryam Nawaz said, "You’re a part of the mafia that pressurises judges into targeting and punishing your political opponents. It is you who used the institutions to settle scores with your opponents and defaced and maligned them in the process. Shame on you."
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court (SC) on Friday took up the case regarding accountability court judge Arshad Malik's alleged involvement in the controversial video scandal.
A three-judge SC bench headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Asif Saeed Khan Khosa will hear the petition on July 16.
The SC issued notices to PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz, former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, Raja Zafarul Haq, and others.