ISLAMABAD: In a major setback to Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, a Supreme Court-ordered probe panel recommended filing of a corruption case against him and his children, in its final report on the Panamagate scandal after it found “significant” disparities in their income and actual wealth. The six-member Joint Investigation Team (JIT) submitted its report to the apex court recommending that a corruption case be filed against Sharif and his sons Hassan Nawaz and Hussain Nawaz, along with daughter Maryam Nawaz, under the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) ordinance 1999.
The report said that the assets of all four respondents were found to be more than the sources of their income. In its concluding remarks, JIT observed, “Significant gap-disparity amongst the known and declared sources of income and the wealth accumulated by the Respondent No. 1,6,7 and 8 have been observed. Respondent 1 refers to Prime Minister Sharif; Respondent 6 to Maryam; Respondent 7 Hussain, and Respondent 8 was Hassan.
The government, expectedly slammed the report and called it “trash”. Sharif's close aide and Minister for Development, Ahsan Iqbal spoke in a press conference, along with other ministers and said they would challenge the report in the SC and would “completely expose and unveil its contradictions and falsifications.” Maryam also rejected the report, saying, “JIT report REJECTED. Every contradiction will not only be contested but decimated in SC. NOT a penny of public exchequer involved.”
The report also said that the financial structure and health of companies in Pak with linkages to the Sharifs also fail to substantiate their wealth. It highlighted “irregular movement” of huge sums of money in the form of “loans and gifts” between Sharif and his youngest son from different companies set across Saudi Arabia, the UK, and the UAE. It said the role of off-shore companies is critical as they have been identified to be linked with their businesses in UK. The JIT said the family failed to provide substantive evidence of a reliable money trail, used to buy expensive properties in London.
The apex court also ordered the registration of a criminal case against Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan Chairman Zafar Hijazi in order to find out who was behind tampering the records of businesses owned by the Sharif family. The bench also ordered that the name and institution of the individual responsible for leaking a photo of Hussain Nawaz sitting before the JIT should be made public. The matter does not fall within the Supreme Court's jurisdiction, so the government may form a commission to probe the matter, the court said. The bench also took a strict stand against a local newspaper for publishing material it said was contrary to actual JIT proceedings over the past 60 days.
The SC ordered the filing of a contempt of court notice against the printer, publisher and reporter of a story titled "Panama JIT 'doesn't find PM guilty', but his sons", which appeared in The News on Monday, July 10.
