Farhat Shahzadi, right, with Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi Khan. Photo: @f.khan211 via Instagram
Farhat Shahzadi, right, with Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi Khan. Photo: @f.khan211 via Instagram
Farhat Shahzadi, right, with Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi Khan. Photo: @f.khan211 via Instagram
Farhat Shahzadi, right, with Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi Khan. Photo: @f.khan211 via Instagram

'Friend' of Imran Khan's wife faces money laundering investigation


Nada AlTaher
  • English
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Pakistan's National Accountability Bureau has approved an investigation into the affairs of Farhat Shahzadi, better known as Farah Khan, for money laundering and illegal activities, the anti-corruption body said on Friday.

The inquiry against Ms Shahzadi, allegedly a friend of Bushra Bibi, the wife of Pakistan's former prime minister Imran Khan, includes "allegations of accumulation of illegal assets beyond known sources of income, money laundering and maintaining various accounts in the name of different businesses" the bureau said in a statement.

Ms Shahzadi accumulated Rs 847 million ($4.5m) in the past three years "which [is] not commensurate with her stated account profile", according to the statement.

"These credits were received in her personal account and withdrawn immediately after credit within a short time period."

NAB said it will launch an investigation into Ms Shahzadi after media reports claimed she had illegally acquired assets.

"While reviewing the income tax returns of Farhat Shahzadi (Alias: Farah Khan), it was allegedly observed that her assets have significantly increased from the year 2018 onwards for unknown reasons."

Ms Shahzadi's various social media profiles say she is a "proud member" of Mr Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party. Mr Khan assumed power in 2018.

Ms Shahzadi said she will co-operate with the inquiry.

"We will neither hide nor avoid investigations. We will appear before NAB's inquiry team both in person and through our legal team," she wrote on Twitter.

Last month, Pakistani politician Maryam Nawaz named and shamed Ms Shahzadi at a Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz (PML-N) gathering, for her illegal activities.

“I dare to name Farah, a friend of Bushra Bibi who is involved in receiving millions of rupees in transfers and postings and these are directly connected to BaniGala [residence of Imran Khan],” Ms Nawaz said at the time, according to local reports.

“The mother of all scandals of transfers and postings amounting to Rs6 billion ($32 million) is related to BaniGala. In the coming days, startling evidence will surface. Imran Khan has fears that once he is out of power his 'thefts' will be exposed."

On her Instagram account, Ms Shahzadi is pictured with Ms Bibi, Mr Khan, on what appears to be a private jet, and at the BaniGala residence, often with expensive designer clothes and bags.

Bushra Bibi, 47, is a mother of five. She married Mr Khan a few months before he became Pakistan's 22nd prime minister in August 2018.

Imran Khan was ousted in early April after the PML-N and Pakistan's People's Party allied against him in a no-confidence vote, leading to Shahbaz Sharif, 70, replacing him. with 174 votes out of 342 in parliament.

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Sri Lanka's T20I squad

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Who has been sanctioned?

Daniella Weiss and Nachala
Described as 'the grandmother of the settler movement', she has encouraged the expansion of settlements for decades. The 79 year old leads radical settler movement Nachala, whose aim is for Israel to annex Gaza and the occupied West Bank, where it helps settlers built outposts.

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Libi has been involved in threatening and perpetuating acts of aggression and violence against Palestinians. His firm has provided logistical and financial support for the establishment of illegal outposts.

Zohar Sabah
Runs a settler outpost named Zohar’s Farm and has previously faced charges of violence against Palestinians. He was indicted by Israel’s State Attorney’s Office in September for allegedly participating in a violent attack against Palestinians and activists in the West Bank village of Muarrajat.

Coco’s Farm and Neria’s Farm
These are illegal outposts in the West Bank, which are at the vanguard of the settler movement. According to the UK, they are associated with people who have been involved in enabling, inciting, promoting or providing support for activities that amount to “serious abuse”.

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Conflict, drought, famine

Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
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Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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Courtesy: Crystal Intelligence

Tearful appearance

Chancellor Rachel Reeves set markets on edge as she appeared visibly distraught in parliament on Wednesday. 

Legislative setbacks for the government have blown a new hole in the budgetary calculations at a time when the deficit is stubbornly large and the economy is struggling to grow. 

She appeared with Keir Starmer on Thursday and the pair embraced, but he had failed to give her his backing as she cried a day earlier.

A spokesman said her upset demeanour was due to a personal matter.

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Updated: May 01, 2022, 11:12 AM`