Pakistan: Investigative report hints at Asim Bajwa's corruption allegations, exposes scam linking Army, CPEC

However, Bajwa said he will continue as the chairman of the China Pakistan Economic Authority (CPEC) Authority.

Releasing a statement, Bajwa rejected all allegations leveled against him and called them 'baseless'.

"I strongly rebut the baseless allegations levelled against me and my family. Alhamdolillah another attempt to damage our reputation belied/exposed.I have and will always serve Pakistan with pride and dignity," he tweeted.

This selective resignation by Bajwa, who issued a press release on Thursday categorically denying allegations of financial misappropriation as a senior military officer over the past two decades, not only weakens his own rebuttal, it adds more credence to calls for a change in leadership of the CPEC Authority. But even that half-baked decision to step down has been unraveled by Prime Minister Imran Khan’s “refusal” to accept the resignation, The Diplomat reported.

With millions of dollars’ worth of financial misappropriation already uncovered in the economic corridor that is still under construction, it makes little sense for CPEC to be spearheaded by an individual accused of such large-scale corruption. But common sense usually takes a backseat whenever questions centering around the army are posed in Pakistan, the online news magazine reported.

Speaking on CPEC, the magazine said, "The visions of the Chinese leadership and Pakistan Army align seamlessly. They both seek to appropriate Pakistan’s resources to grow their own neoliberal empires. CPEC itself links Xinjiang and Balochistan, the hubs of multipronged abuses carried out by China and Pakistan, respectively."

The Diplomat described the CPEC project as a 'holy cow' that could not be questioned in Pakistan.

Today, Pakistan’s elevation of CPEC to hallowed proportions is in line with its complete abandonment of the United States’ side of the new cold war divide, with Washington having issued repeated calls for Islamabad to add transparency to what it dubbed a “debt trap.” Pakistan is now confident that China will fulfill all of its economic needs — to a point that it can now afford to snub Saudi Arabia, the magazine reported.

In his investigative report published in Fact Focus, journalist Ahmad Noorani claimed: "The growth of the Bajwa family’s business empire in the United States and later in Pakistan directly matches the rise in power of retired general Asim Saleem Bajwa, who is now chairman of the country’s massive China-financed infrastructure project and a special assistant to the prime minister."

"The narrative about corruption is changing in Pakistan after my investigation came to light," Noorani told RFE/RL's Gandhara website. "The corruption debate was limited only to graft allegations about politicians, but now people are discussing this issue in relation to the military and its powerful officers."

Noorani says he hopes his exposé will break the atmosphere of fear in Pakistan, where the military is frequently accused of blanket censorship and severe intimidation of activists and journalists.

"My story proves that while [the military does] not allow anyone to investigate their dealings and most of their dealings are not part of the public domain, it is possible many similar stories are out there," he told the website.