ISLAMABAD: After the hearing of the inquiry report related to a graft case against Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his family, the Supreme Court has reserved its judgment on the issue. A three-member special SC bench headed by Justices Ejaz Afzal Khan was hearing the case regarding the Sharif family's offshore assets and companies as revealed by the Panama Papers leak last year.
A six-member Joint Investigation Team (JIT), tasked by the SC to probe corruption and money laundering charges against the Sharif family had submitted its investigation report in court on July 10. They have explicitly found the family guilty of perjury, tampering documents and concealing their sources of income. The Sharifs had in return, filed petition against JIT's findings calling it biased, unreliable and misleading. Following the conclusion of counsels of both sides, the bench said that it would not deviate from any law while delivering its judgment. “We are conscious of the fundamental rights of petitioners and respondents,” said Justice Ijazul Ahsan.
The bench also observed that it is possible some mistakes were made by the JIT, but the overall work of the investigators was beyond all expectations. “We will have to see how much of the JIT's work is implementable,” Justice Afzal said. Another member of the bench, Justice Sheikh Azmat Saeed said the court would review the matter of the PM's disqualification. The bench, however, warned that, “the punishment for submitting forged documents in the court is seven years in jail.” It said that if it was proved that the Sharif family had submitted fake documents to the Panama panel probing the allegations, the children of the PM could face prison time.
The bench warned Salman Akram Raja, Sharif's children's lawyer, against a media trial in the case after some of the documents released by him were leaked to media and were discussed in talk shows. “You have been conducting a trial in the media and the documents have already been discussed in the media,” Justice Saeed said. “There is a media dais outside, you should give your arguments there as well.”
