Panama Papers case: PM's counsel accuses JIT of wrongdoing

In response to JIT findings against Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his family, Sharif has raised legal objections to the JIT’s report and its members, particularly Brig Nauman Saeed, a nominee of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).

PM’s counsel Khawaja Harris submitted an application on behalf of the premier before the Supreme Court. The application also raised objections to JIT’s act of hiring private firm to obtain documents from abroad. It said the London-based firm it hired belongs to JIT Chief Wajid Zia’s cousin. The PM said one of ‘the more aggressive’ members of the JIT whose description was given in one of the earlier applications had been identified as the nominee of the ISI, Express Tribune reported.

The three-member special Supreme Court bench headed by Justice Ejaz Afzal Khan resumed hearing of the Panama Papers case on Tuesday.

Harris claimed the JIT also included probe of ‘assets beyond means’ in its investigation and went on to answer 15 questions instead of the original 13. The main issue is to probe the London money trail, he said.

He said the court, in its April 20 judgment, had not ordered for reopening of any case against Nawaz Sharif.

Justice Ejaz said that JIT has submitted their recommendation but now it’s up to the court to pass any order. “Don’t want to comment on any aspect of the JIT report at this time,” he remarked. He said the trial court will decide if including the Hudaibiya Papers Mills case in the JIT report was right or wrong.