SC orders JIT probe against Nawaz Sharif, family members: HumSub.TV
SC orders JIT probe against Nawaz Sharif, family members: HumSub.TV: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has escaped disqualification from his office after a five-member bench of the Supreme Court hearing the Panama Papers case on Thursday announced the formation of a joint investigation team headed by the additional director of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) and comprising officials of the State Bank, Securities and Exchange Commission, National Accountability Bureau, Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and Military Intelligence to track the money trail through which the family of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had acquired properties overseas.
Announcing the verdict, Justice Azmat Saeed Khosa said that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his sons Hassan and Hussain would have to appear before the joint investigation team and explain how the former’s sons had managed to acquire properties abroad when they were just minors.
The SC ordered that the JIT should be formed within a week’s time and it should submit its findings in 60 days.
Two judges of the five-member bench — Justice Khosa and Justice Gulzar Ahmed — had written dissenting notes in the order and called for the disqualification of the prime minister under Articles 62 and 63.
The SC bench also observed that the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) had failed to fulfill its responsibility, therefore the JIT would now trace the ownership of the foreign companies allegedly owned by the Sharif family.
The bench also rejected the letter of the Qatari prince submitted in favour of the Sharif family.
Commenting on the verdict, Prime Minister Sharif said that he had accepted the SC ruling and would honour its order.
“It is a victory for truth and justice,” he said in remarks released by his media managers.
The PM will also address the nation at 7pm later on Thursday.
Addressing reporters outside the SC building, PML-N leaders Khawaja Saad Rafique, Khawaja Muhammad Asif and Ahsan Iqbal said that the verdict had absolved Nawaz Sharif of any wrongdoing.
“The PM had already offered himself and his family for any kind of investigation. The verdict has vindicated our stance that Nawaz Sharif has no role in the Panama Papers scandal. We will extend maximum cooperation to the JIT and have faith that the probe will also clear the PM from this allegation,” said an animated Saad Rafique.
Speaking on the occasion, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif said that Nawaz Sharif will remain prime minister till 2018 and for another five years after “winning the general elections next year”.
Earlier, leaders of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) had gathered outside the Supreme Court, located in Islamabad’s Red Zone, and made charged statements in the countdown to the announcement of the verdict.
The Red Zone was put on ‘red alert’, with around 1,500 police, Rangers and Frontier Constabulary personnel deployed in and around the area for security and to maintain peace. Police officials, including Special Branch officials, were also deployed for intelligence gathering and timely responses.
Strict checking was conducted at entry points into the Red Zone, where only concerned individuals, including government officials and residents of the area, were allowed entry.
Officials deployed at Red Zone entry points were ordered to check and verify people and ask for their destination and reason for seeking entry before allowing them into the Red Zone.
Only individuals with passes were allowed into court premises. Ordinarily, there are about 60 to 70 reporters at the apex court on a daily basis, but on Thursday hundreds turned out to see the historic verdict of the case probing allegations of corruption and wrongdoing by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his family members following the Panama Papers leaks.
PANAMA LEAKS:
The Panama Papers, which refer to a massive trove of secret documents leaked from Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca — which specialised in helping the global elite stash wealth in offshore tax havens — had said that the PM’s children, Maryam, Hasan and Hussain Nawaz “were owners or had the right to authorise transactions for several [offshore] companies”.
At least eight offshore companies were found to have links to the Sharif family in the documents that were leaked.
The revelations had raised serious concerns regarding the legitimacy of the family’s wealth, offshore holdings and business interests, and catalysed opposition parties to rally for the investigation or resignation of the prime minister and his family members.
Maryam Nawaz had initially dismissed the documents as a distortion of information, but the prime minister had to eventually relent and order a judicial probe into the allegations raised by opposition parties.
The Supreme Court’s proceedings in the case were initiated on Jan 4, 2017, under a reconstituted five-judge bench comprising Justice Asif Saeed Khosa, Justice Gulzar Ahmed, Justice Ejaz Afzal Khan, Justice Azmat Saeed and Justice Ijazul Ahsan.
The landmark judgment has taken 57 days to be made public.
SC orders JIT probe against Nawaz Sharif, family members: HumSub.TV
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