PML-N harmed Pakistanis by attacking Shaukat Khanum: Imran Khan

By Ferya Ilyas Published: August 1, 2012 PTI chairman says money was invested abroad but losses were not incurred by the hospital. PHOTO: AYESHA MIR/EXPRESS ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) is a party which can harm Pakistan to any extent just to come to power, accused Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan on Wednesday. Responding to the money laundering accusations levelled against him by PML-N senior leader Khawaja Asif, Imran said the party should have at least considered doing a little more investigation into the matter before speaking to the public. “Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital is not Imran Khan’s personal hospital; the patients are not my relatives, they are Pakistanis,” said Imran, adding that by attacking the hospital, PML-N has caused harm to many Pakistanis who receive free health care at the hospice. “It is the only free cancer hospital and PML-N should have thought before doing this,” Imran stated. Lamenting that the PML-N dragged a welfare institute into the mud of politics, Imran said the finger-pointers should have attacked him but not the hospital. Calling PML-N’s allegations baseless, the PTI chairman said the $3 million amount mentioned by Khawaja is already stated in hospital’s balance sheet. “If we had misused the money, we would have not mentioned it in our accounts,” Imran clarified. As if to further admonish Khawaja, Imran pointed out that the PML-N leader had infact relied on their public balance sheet to pick out all the numbers for his accusation. Calling the accusation that zakat money was invested abroad a lie, Imran said that the hospital receives money from donors within the country and from those outside of it. He said the amount of money hospital gets in zakat is never enough to provide free health service and so fund raising events are organised to bridge the shortfall. He further explained that the foreign donations are collected in a dollar account which is managed by the hospital’s endowment fund. “The endowment fund uses this money for investment and earn profit on it,” he declared. “The endowment fund has its own board which decides how to use the money, a board of which I’m not a member,” Imran said, adding that the board decided to invest money in Dubai as property prices were rising back then. Answering the accusations point by point, Imran said the money never went abroad from Pakistan as it was a part of the endowment fund and the company, where the hospital’s endowment fund invested, was owned by Imtiaz Haideri, who is also the chief executive. “The investment crashed all of a sudden,” Imran admitted, but, said, the owner had promised them that they will earn profit on the investment and will not incur losses. The PTI chairman said the PML-N probably played this blame game now because it’s Ramazan and the hospital receives huge amount of donations this time of the year. “Khawaja might be upset by this but I want to tell him that we have received Rs40 million from a Sialkot businessman and raised Rs60 million through a fund-raising iftaari in Lahore,” Imran boasted. The PTI chief added that Khawaja might have levelled the allegations just to prevent the hospital from getting funds, adding that the PML-N has pulled such a stunt before. “In 1997, I had to face a lot of trouble. I had to tour all over the globe to raise funds for the hospital as donations stopped coming in after PML-N created similar doubts,” he said. ============ Imran Khan lost donation money in real estate gambling: Khawaja Asif By Ema Anis Published: August 1, 2012 ISLAMABAD: Khawaja Asif, a senior leader of the Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz (PML-N), alleges that Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan lost a huge amount of money which was donated to his social welfare hospital, Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital & Research Centre, in a real estate gamble. Asif, accompanied by two other PML-N leaders, held a press conference in Islamabad on Wednesday and handed out hard copies of “evidence” against Khan’s investments. The leader said that a total of $4.5 million were invested abroad, which was “in fact the money gained from sadqaat, fitrana and zakat… This was the money of the Pakistani nation which went abroad.” “In British Virgin Islands, a shell company was first registered. That company transferred money into a company, HBG in Dubai, then HBG bought shares of Sugarland company worth $3 million. During 2009-2010, Sugarland declared losses and in the coming two years, it faced 64% losses. Here, the money of Shaukat Khanum invested by Imran Khan also faced a loss but it was not shown,” Asif said while referring to the documents he had distributed. The leader mentioned the Double Shah scam and said that Double Shah would at least ask for investments and not for donations, and his business was more transparent than this one. “Imran Khan doesn’t get tired of unleashing allegations against the entire world, but he should first look at himself too.” Asif questioned Khan that if the investment was so safe and profitable, then why did he not put in his own money rather than that of Shaukat Khanum. “This is not a scandal of the PTI, this was a play of Shaukat Khanum’s money… Shaukat Khanum has not published its balance sheets, the last one available is from 2010, which we have provided to you. “Imran Khan should reply himself or someone from the trust should reply. Who knows what game Imran Khan is playing with the people’s money and where he’s investing the donations,” he added. ‘Shaukat Khanum workers are Khan’s friends or family’ Asif also alleged that those working at Shaukat Khanum Memorial Hospital are either Khan’s friends or family members. “Another important person is Imtiaz Haideri. He is a member of Imran Khan’s trust, is a chief executive in Dubai and a chief executive in British Virgin Islands too.” “In this party (PTI), they are all real estate businessmen or are involved in collecting donations. There is this singer as well, who also collects donations. The whole leadership is involved in the real estate business, they are all gamblers,” said Asif adding that he is providing proof from Shaukat Khanum’s own papers. “We are not speculating or assuming this. We have handed you all the balance sheets too on which all the investments are stated.” “During a Public Accounts Committee meeting, I asked NAB without mentioning any name that if a social welfare organisation is involved in such gambling investment, does your law allow them to catch them. They told me yes, they would take action… When the time comes, we will also go to the court.” “We know it hurts the credibility of leaders before the elections, but we are trying to show the real face (of Imran Khan) on how he is managing the donations,” Asif added. “Imran Khan took some wrong decisions and the trust should not bear the losses. The loss should come on his personal balance sheet.” Read PML-N’s fact sheet on Shaukat Khanum Memorial Hospital here. =========== (( Board and Management The Board of Directors and Senior Management collectively have vast knowledge of the economic and political landscape in the Middle East and North Africa and a demonstrable track record of generating superior returns from portfolio companies in the region. The leadership team has held senior management positions and led major strategic initiatives in regional family conglomerates, listed business groups and government institutions and includes co-founders: Abdallah Y. Al-Mouallimi, Imtiaz H. Hydari and Zulfi Caar Hydari. The management of its operations is conducted through HBG Management Partners Limited and is dedicated to providing management, administrative, financial and treasury support services to all HBG entities. Imtiaz H. Hydari, Executive Vice Chairman A key player in the corporate and private equity space in the Middle East over the last 35 years, Mr Hydari has managed some of the region’s largest businesses and played a leading role in its landmark M&A transactions. He is a pioneer of private equity and mergers and acquisitions in the MENASA region. Between 1991 and 1995, Mr. Hydari was President and CEO of the Olayan Group in Saudi Arabia. During his tenure Mr. Hydari developed a distinguished record of expanding businesses into market leadership positions and restructuring the diverse business portfolio of Olayan which included power, agriculture, construction consumer, automotive and investments. Furthermore, he has the distinction of negotiating several strategic acquisitions and joint venture partnerships and represented the group in its joint ventures with Xerox, Coca-Cola, Colgate Palmolive and Kimberly Clark amongst others. Mr. Hydari is a Co-Founder of Abraaj Capital and until 2004 was responsible for general management and value-creation efforts in portfolio companies. He was pivotal in Abraaj’s leveraged buyout of Aramex International and Inchcape Marketing Services. Mr. Hydari is a Fellow member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (FCA) and a Fellow member of the British Chartered Management Institute (FCMI). Real Estate More » The real estate team identifies and acquires individual or portfolio of real estate assets that can be utilized to generate strong future cash flows and attractive capital gains. HBG invests primarily in emerging markets real estate and focuses on properties in central locations with value enhancement opportunities. The firm’s strategy is to invest in both income generating assets with high occupancy and strong cash flows as well as development assets which are more opportunistic in nature. In either case, the team forms alliances with real estate companies to develop and enhance HBG projects over the investment term. The firm structures special investment vehicles for the purpose of aggregating its individual real estate investments for equity placement to co-investors. These property portfolios provide investment diversification for our investors and are capitalized with a combination of HBG equity, co-investor equity and bank mortgage debt. == Private Equity More » HBG invests directly in target companies as well as in private equity funds focused on investing in private companies in the Middle East, Central Asia, South Asia and Africa: 1. Direct Investments: These investments are undertaken from the firm’s balance sheet targeting mid-size companies with strong management and with the potential to expand regionally and internationally. HBG invests in companies that can benefit most from its operational and strategic know-how as well as its financial resources during the hold period. 2. PE Fund Investments: The firm provides seed funding to specialist platforms investing in the wider region and co-manages in partnership with specialist fund management teams. HBG adopts a disciplined investment strategy of acquiring target companies and creating value through financial and operational enhancements, financial restructuring, acquisition and mergers. The company enforces strict financial discipline, rigorous analysis and valuation techniques in order to build a high quality portfolios and targets the following types of businesses: 1. Growth businesses: Acquisition of companies with strong cash flow characteristics and potential to expand regionally and internationally. 2. Underperforming businesses: Acquisition of mature companies with dominant market positions but facing challenges in operations, strategy or capital structure. 3. Asset based businesses: Acquisition of individual or portfolio of real estate and infrastructure assets that can be utilized to generate strong future cash flows. The firm is continually assessing investment opportunities in its deal pipeline, most of which are identified through its stakeholders and network of contacts in professional firms and industry. The team follows a disciplined investment process, evaluating each opportunity, ensuring that it meets the defined investment criteria and risk profile and pursues only the most compelling transactions. The firm takes advantage of a variety of financing structures by using optimum leverage to fund its acquisitions and consequently maximizing returns to investors whilst not imposing excessive repayment or operational restrictions on portfolio companies. HBG arranges debt financing through leading financial institutions and underwrites equity itself. In the post investment period, the team measures performance against specific financial metrics, and adopts value-focused approaches to portfolio management. The HBG philosophy is to promote entrepreneurship by empowering its fund managers and the management teams of its portfolio companies whilst maintaining central oversight through simple yet rigorous policies and targets. The firm presents its shareholders with additional opportunities to co-invest in transactions and also seeks co-investment from third party private and institutional investors. Positive Practice in Private Equity More » HBG facilitates the flow of investment capital from the Gulf region, in particular Saudi Arabia, into private companies throughout the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia region. The firm focuses primarily on growth capital investment opportunities to generate superior returns for its investors. Since its inception, HBG has worked with a growing number of private and institutional clients from the Arabian Gulf to acquire target companies. HBG’s positive approach to private equity ensures that the firm is ideally placed to support companies in the growth phase of their development. With its formidable team of business leaders, access to substantial financial resources and its influential network of professional partners, HBG is committed to empowering and partnering private enterprise in its goal to achieve competitive, profitable and sustainable futures. The enduring relationships and trust that are built in this mutually beneficial process are the foundation of HBG’s success. ))