According to a May 16, 2010 story of the state-run news agency, APP, which can be accessed at http://www.app.com.pk/en_/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=103104&Itemid=2, Rasool, a newly appointed media coordinator of Gilani, visited the place of martyrdom of slain Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto and laid a wreath.
“Earlier the media coordinator led a large procession of party workers from Faizabad to Liaquat Bagh. An enthusiastic crowd riding on motorbikes, various vehicles accompanied the media coordinator. A large number of local PPP leaders including Sultan Mehmood Qazi, Aamir Fida Piracha, Sheikh Hameed, Sohail Pasha, Raja Altaf, Jamil Qureshi, and Azra Younas were also present on the occasion,” the APP story said.
It added that addressing the gathering Rasool paid rich tributes to Benazir Bhutto. “Criticising the opposition parties he said conspiracies are being hatched against the government as the opponents have become envious over the successes of the PPP-led government. Highlighting the achievements of the government he said the passage of 18th Amendment, successes in the ongoing war on terror and consensus approval of National Finance Commission (NFC) award speak the sagacity, leadership qualities of President Asif Ali Zardari. The government of Pakistan People’s Party will complete its tenure of full five years and exterminate the menaces of terrorism, price hike and poverty from the country,” he concluded.
The web page of this APP story has been saved in case the APP removes it from its website.
Later a Dec 12, 2010 story appearing in this newspaper, which is available at http://www.thenews.com.pk/TodaysPrintDetail.aspx?ID=20067&Cat=2, filed by our reporter who covers the prime minister, said Gilani has started keeping a distance from the ‘tainted personalities’ of his jail days who had surrounded him by taking top slots. As the first step he has asked one of his media coordinators, Rasool, to resign. Rasool, who was appointed as media coordinator of the prime minister, was drawing hefty salary from the state-run television account. He came to limelight when he displayed big banners in Rawalpindi for Gilani when he was in Adiyala Jail introducing himself as media coordinator to Yusuf Raza Gilani.”
The same story said Rasool’s papers for the election of the Nazim of Rawal Town (Rawalpindi) were rejected in 2005 on the basis that he did not have the matriculation certificate. He denied that he was getting any salary from the state-run television saying that when he assumed this task, he had written to the channel that he did not want to get any salary and will work on an honorary basis. “I did not avail any official car or used the official telephone and even I did not have any office.”
When the Supreme Court opened hearing on the alleged fraud, acting on a contempt of court plea filed by the defrauded businessmen, Pervez Hussain and Sameer Hussain, Gilani’s spokesman claimed while “putting the record straight” on Jan 11 that Rasool served as media advisor, Northern Pakistan for the state-run television and had nothing to do with the office of the prime minister.
The spokesman said the advisor fraudulently extracted Rs430 million from Pervez Hussain and his son Sameer Hussain with the collusion of other three accomplices. On receipt of a secret report on fraudulent activities of Khurram Rasool, Ms Nargis Sethi, the then Principal Secretary to Gilani, on the instructions of the prime minister, directed the FIA to immediately initiate an inquiry into the allegation of fraud committed by Rasool.
Consequently, an FIR No. 05/2011 was lodged by FIA Commercial Banking Circle, Islamabad, on March 11, 2011 on the complaint of Nargis Sethi, the then Principal Secretary to PM. His services as Media Coordinator with the state-run television were terminated forthwith. The FIA took prompt action and arrested Zafar Jawed, brother and co-accused of Mian Khurram Rasool. It froze bank accounts and assets of the accused.
The businessmen’s lawyer, Rashid A Rizvi, told The News that the accused was being shielded by some influential office holders, who also blocked the FIA from arresting him in violation of the court order.
He said that Rasool received Rs530 million from his client on the pretext of getting his two companies — Sahara Gas (pvt) Limited and Pak Delta Enterprises (Pvt) Limited — quota for LPG and a licence for export of oil to Nato forces in Afghanistan.
Rizvi said Rasool and his brother Shahid Mehmood, along with Ghulam Ghous, managed to forge the signatures of the petroleum and natural resources secretary on various agreements. He added that the fraud came to the knowledge of his clients when they presented the documents for implementation of the deals to the relevant government departments.
The petroleum and natural resources ministry and Parco (Pak Arab Refinery Company) informed the petitioners that all the agreements presented were forged documents while no amount was received by them for or on behalf of the petitioners. Rizvi pleaded that Khurram Rasool also allegedly got the support of officials of a bank in Islamabad where, he said, accounts were opened in the name of fake partnership without observing the State Bank of Pakistan’s instructions for opening new accounts.
http://www.thenews.com.pk/TodaysPrintDetail.aspx?ID=89494&Cat=2
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