2017-01-04



The ongoing Panama leaks case hearing resumed on Wednesday by the Supreme Court. It has now decided to hold hearings everyday without any further delays.

The new five-judge bench shall be headed by Justice Asif Saeed Khosa. It includes Justice Ejaz Afzal Khan, Justice Gulzar Ahmed, Justice Gulzar Ahmed, Justice Azmat Saeed Sheikh, and Justice Ijaz ul Ahsan. The case resumed with questions raised over the money trail shown by PM Nawaz’s family for properties purchased in London.

Justice Khosa also remarked that the PM did not give any references from Qatar earlier. He directed the PTI counsel Naeem Bokhari to establish that the Sharif family owns the London properties prior to 2006.

The court in November slew the PM’s disqualification in the Panama leaks case hearing of petitions. The ruling PML-N and its counterpart PTI made surprise moves on this day. The Sharif family changed its legal team again while Imran Khan showed evidence. He showed evidence that the PM’s daughter Maryam Nawaz is the owner of the companies exposed in the Panama Leaks. Sharif’s side is now being represented by Makhdoom Ali Khan. He is the Attorney General Pakistan (AGP) who has worked during Pervez Musharraf’s military rule. Thus, another AGP, Aslam Butt has now been replaced.

Salman Akram Raja is hired by Hussain Nawaz while Maryam and her spouse Captain Safdar hired senior lawyer Shahid Hamid. He is the brother of Law Minister Zahid Hamid who has represented the PML-N on the same before the commission. Akram Sheikh had been taking the case on their behalf earlier.

The proofs

Imran has submitted fresh documents in the top court that claim Maryam Nawaz as the beneficiary and real owner of the properties. These are Nescon and Nelson named in the Panama leaks. He also revealed the same to the media through a news conference after it. He added that Hussain nawaz set up no trust of which Maryam was the trustee and real owner. Furthermore, he said that the letter written by the Qatari Prince was also fraudulent. The Sharif family had said that the London flats were purchased through the accounts settlement between the Qatari royal family and the Sharifs. Thus, they had presented a letter from the Prince to state the same.

IK also questioned from where the PM’s daughter while being the PM’s dependent got the money to buy these. The only thing not fake is the Affidavit submitted by the Finance Minister Ishaq Dar before the parliament. Thus Nawaz doesn’t have any money trail and has lied to both the parliament and the top court. IK believes it is a matter of two weeks for the verdict now. It is because 90% of documents presented by his party through overseas Pakistanis’ help have substantiated the claim. Their 40 pager contains all details of conversations between British Virgin Islands and Mossack Fonseca Company with emails.

The additional documents

PTI has also informed the court through additional documents. They state that the financial investigation agency of British Virgin Islands also questioned Nescoll Limited and Nielsen Enterprises Limited. It was about the contact details and physical address of the ultimate owner, registered director and the shareholder. The money laundering reporting officer of Mossack, J Nizbeth Maduro replied with a response. The letter to the agency read Maryam Safdar as the beneficial owner of Nielson and Nescoll. Moreover, it also contained an attached passport copy of Maryam.

On the other hand, the Sharif family says that Maryam signed a declaration on 2nd Feb, 2016. It was for his brother Hussain to be a trustee in his two companies. She claimed in her reply before the SC that she was only a trustee and not the beneficiary of shareholder.

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