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Panama verdict : Pakistan Supreme Court orders formation of JIT to probe PM Nawaz Sharif

by IBNS 20 Apr 2017, 09:34 am

Islamabad, Apr 20 (IBNS) : In a temporary relief for Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, the country's Supreme Court on Thursday ordered further investigation into the Panama Papers Leak case that implicated the leader and his family in a money trail regarding Qatari investment, Daily Pakistan said.

Stating that the Chairman of NAB was unable to perform his duties, the judges ordered formation of Joint Investigation Team (JIT).

The JIT would report to the court after every two weeks.

Three of the judges agreed to the judgement passed out by apex court whereas two judges had a dissenting opinion.

The judgement was announced by a five-member bench headed by Justice Asif Saeed Khosa and comprising Justice Ejaz Afzal Khan, Justice Gulzar Ahmed, Justice Sheikh Azmat Saeed and Justice Ejaz ul Ahsan.

The issue of Panama Leaks came to light on April 4, 2016, as part of a massive leak of secret files from a Panamanian law firm that specialises in setting up offshore companies. A trove of 11.5 million digital records from the Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca last year revealed how world’s wealthy used offshore companies to stash assets.

According to the Panama Papers, three of Nawaz Sharif’s four children – Maryam, Hasan and Hussain – were owners of offshore companies and “were owners or had the right to authorise transactions for several companies.” but the Sharif family has dismissed the allegations of money laundering and denied any wrongdoing.