ISLAMABAD: Pak Supreme Court questioned the money trail of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's flats in London with one of the judges observing that there was no bank record of money being transferred from Pakistan to a foreign country. Hearing a case pertaining to the alleged offshore wealth of Sharif's family in London, the court said the family had not presented documents for companies it had mentioned.
"Why were the documents hidden?" the court asked Akram Sheikh, lawyer for the PM's children. "If you say that you are a shareholder, you will have to give evidence," said Justice Azmat Saeed. Earlier, Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf chairman Imran Khan's counsel Naeem Bukhari submitted two-page summary of a transaction questioning the Sharif family's investment of 12 million dirhams in Qatar in 1980 despite owing the Bank of Commerce and Credit International 14 million dirhams. Justice Sheikh said the Sharifs had failed to explain how they had cleared the aforementioned dues in 1980, and also observed that the family in question had also failed to explain how they had financed the construction of Jeddah Steel Mills.
The bench also observed that there was no similarity between the signatures of premier Sharif's cousin Tariq Shafi on an affidavit and a contract presented before the court. PTI chief Imran Khan said the apex court had done the right thing by questioning the absence of a money trail. "The proceedings in the apex court have exposed the discrepancy in the family's documents and statements. Though the case is ongoing, it technically stands dissolved courtesy the aforementioned discrepancy."
The PTI, during the hearing, contended that the Sharif family owned both Nelson and Nescol companies in 1999. On November 15, Prime Minister Sharif and his daughter Maryam Nawaz submitted documentary evidence on the legitimacy of their assets before the court, claiming a Qatari prince paid for their London apartment. A treasure trove of classified documents leaked during the Panama Papers scandal, claiming the three scions of the Sharif family owned offshore businesses across international tax havens.
