The joint investigation team (JIT) charged with investigating the alleged financial wrongdoings of the Prime Minister by the Supreme Court verdict in the Panama Papers case has asked for the asset declarations of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his son-in-law retired Captain Mohammad Safdar from the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).
The JIT formally commenced the summoning of relevant documents after the member from NAB joined them on Thursday.The member in question had previously been missing, he was said to be abroad.
The apex court has empowered the JIT to summon Prime Minister Sharif and both his sons when it is deemed necessary.
Reportedly, the JIT wrote to the ECP and sought the asset declarations of PM Sharif from 1999 however, the ECP replied by stating that it could not provide those records since the law making submission of asset details to the ECP mandatory was introduced in 2002.
Nawaz Sharif was sent into exile after the military coup of 1999 and did not contest in any elections until 2013 hence the ECP did not have details of his assets until that year. The ECP had compiled a report of the PM’s assets from 2013 to 2016.
Read More: Panama JIT reviews the questionable history of the Sharif family
According to the JIT’s terms of reference laid out by the Supreme Court, it is mandated to investigate queries which include.
- How the Gulf Steel Mill come into existence?
- What led to its sale?
- What happened to its liabilities and how did they reach Jeddah, Qatar and the UK?
- Whether Hussain and Hassan Nawaz had the means in the early 1990s to purchase and own the London flats?
- Whether the sudden appearance of the letters of Hamad Bin Jassim Bin Jaber Al-Thani and their content is a myth or a reality?
- Who, in fact, is the real and beneficial owner of the Nielsen Enterprises Ltd and Nescoll Ltd?
- How did Hill Metal Establishment come into existence?
- Where did the money for Flagship Investment Ltd and other companies set up/taken over by the son of the PM come from?
- Where do the huge sums gifted by Hussain Nawaz to Nawaz Sharif come from?
The apex court has empowered the JIT to summon Prime Minister Sharif and both his sons when it is deemed necessary.
The team has already begun scrutinizing documents including records of Hudabiya Paper Mills corruption case. The SC has authorized the JIT to examine all past evidence which may be available with the FIA or NAB.
Read More: JIT: Now is the real test of Pakistan’s institutions
Mr. Dar is an old loyalist of the Sharif family. He started his career as a clerk in the family’s Ittefaq Group and his rise was propelled due to his connections with the Sharif family
NAB Prosecutor General Waqas Qadeer Dar had submitted the record of Hudabiya Paper Mills reference to the apex court during the hearing of the Panamagate case and with it the confessional statement of incumbent Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, who had turned approver against Nawaz Sharif.
Mr. Dar is an old loyalist of the Sharif family. He started his career as a clerk in the family’s Ittefaq Group and his rise was propelled due to his connections with the Sharif family however in the Hudabiya Paper Mill scandal, where Mr. Dar was one of the accused, he recorded a statement implicating Nawaz Sharif and his family of money laundering. He later claimed that he had given the confession under duress.