Update: 7:42AM – The Pakistan Supreme Court is hearing the Panama Papers leaks case, following the submission of a report by the joint investigation team tasked to investigate allegations of corruption against the Sharif family.
Pakistan’s Supreme Court on Thursday warned Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s children may face a jail term of up to seven years if it is proved that they submitted forged documents to the joint investigation team (JIT) probing the ruling family’s offshore assets.
Sharif’s case has weakened considerably over the past few days, with many predicting that he will be disqualified from office in the coming days.
Supreme Court judge Ijazul Ahsan said the Dubai government revealed that the Gulf Steel Mills documents provided by the Sharif family were forged.
“Dubai Customs has no record of transportation of machinery of Gulf Steel Mills from Dubai to Saudi Arabia,” he observed.
Responding to a query by the bench, additional attorney general Waqar Rana said someone involved in forgery can be sent to jail for seven years.
“We cannot shut our eyes as the law will take its course because fake documents have been submitted in the Supreme Court,” Justice Azmat Saeed Sheikh observed.
The bench also noted that Qatari Prince Hammad Bin Jassam neither agreed to record his statement to the JIT via video link, nor was willing to visit the Pakistan embassy in Doha.
Justice Ejaz Afzal asked the counsel for Sharif’s children, Salman Akram Raja, why the family did not explain how they paid a liability of Pakistani Rs21 million after selling the Al Azizia Mills in Saudi Arabia, and how Pakistani Rs63 million were transferred to Hussain Nawaz’s account.
Meanwhile, Justice Sheikh observed that it has been confirmed that Maryam Nawaz is the beneficial owner of London flats. “It is not (an) allegation but a matter of fact that Maryam is the beneficial owner of the flats,” the bench observed.
To this, Raja said the JIT did not confront his clients on the material collected by the probe team, adding that they could not be prosecuted in this matter.
-HT
