Beg demanded 35m for 1990 polls: Habib

ISLAMABAD: Former Mehran Bank chief Younis Habib disclosed during hearing of the Asghar Khan case on Thursday that former army chief General Aslam Beg demanded Rs35 million for elections in the name of national interest.

He said Rs34 million were disbursed among politicians in the run up to the 1990 elections and the beneficiaries also included army men.

The Supreme Court (SC) resumed today the hearing of a 1996 plea moved by Air Marshal retired Asghar Khan, regarding alleged disbursement of money among the anti-PPP politicians by former Army Chief General Aslam Beg, ex-director general ISI Lt. Gen. Asad Durrani and former Mehran Bank chief Younis Habib.

A three-member bench of Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, Justice Khilji Arif Hussain and Justice Tariq Parvez heard the case.

Former ISI chief Asad Durrani and Younus Habib, former chief of Mehran Bank appeared before the court today while Commander Shahbaz represented the Defence Ministery.

During Thursday's proceedings, Younis Habib’s written statement was submitted to the court. He informed the court that former army chief General Aslam Beg arranged his meeting with ex-president Ghulam Ishaq Khan in 1990.

Younis Habib disclosed that Beg demanded Rs35 million for elections in the name of national interest.

The former chief of Mehran Bank said he had arranged Rs1.48 billion on the orders of the then president Ishaq Khan.

He told the court that he had no other option but to accept president’s orders as head of a nationalized bank and that he was pressurized by Roedad Khan and the attorney general to get the case registered against Asif Ali Zardari in 1990.

He said General Aslam Beg and Col Akbar also opened several bank accounts to transfer money (to the politicians).

When asked by the court to get the records of accounts, he said he no longer had access to them. On this, Justice Khilji said just provide the court with one end and then it would be court's job to get to the other.


Lastly, Younis Habib told the court that he puts himself at court’s disposal and sought an unconditional apology.

Later, the court ordered that the copy of Younis Habib's statement be provided to the Attorney General and the respondents of the case, demanding their replies on it by Friday.