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  • Aug 11th, 2008
  • Comments Off on Musharraf denies he embezzled US funds
A spokesman for President Pervez Musharraf denied on Sunday that the embattled leader had "misappropriated" millions of dollars of military aid provided to Pakistan by the United States since the September 11, 2001 al Qaeda terrorist attacks.

"The allegations are absurd and baseless. Every penny that we got in aid since 2001 has been accounted for," presidential spokesman Rashid Qureshi told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

Asif Ali Zardari, co-chairman of the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) which leads the country's ruling coalition, alleged in an interview with Britain's Sunday Times magazine that Musharraf had "not been passing on all the 1 billion dollars a year that the Americans have been giving for the armed forces."

"The army has been getting 250-300 million dollars' reimbursement for what they do, but where's the rest?," he asked. His party, in consultation with coalition partners, is currently preparing a charge sheet against Musharraf to be tabled in the parliament next week.

"They claim it's been going in budget support but that's not the answer. We're talking about 700 million dollars a year missing. The rest has been taken by 'Mush' for some scheme or other and we've got to find it." "We're looking for the money," Zardari said. "I think he has a slush fund being used for this and for some activity for the future."

Copyright Deutsche Presse-Agentur, 2008


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