ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court-appointed joint investigation team (JIT) probing Sharif family’s overseas business dealings disclosed by the Panama Papers has summoned Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to appear before it on Thursday, June 15.
A letter dated June 8 and issued with the signatures of JIT head Wajid Zia has asked the prime minister to appear before the team of investigators at 11am. The prime minister has also been asked to bring all the relevant record and documents along.
“In pursuance of the order of the Honourable Supreme Court of Pakistan dated 20/04/2017 and 05/05/2017 in CMA No 2939 of 2017 in Constitutional Petition No 29 of 2016, etc, you are requested to appear and associate with the JIT on Thursday, June 15, 2017, at 1100 hours, at the office of the JIT, Federal Judicial Academy, Service Road South, Sector H-8/4, Islamabad. Kindly bring all relevant record/documents/material pertaining to the aforementioned constitutional petitions,” the letter issued to the prime minister reads.
In a statement issued to the media, the PM House confirmed having received the summons from the JIT. The statement also confirmed that the prime minister would appear before the JIT on June 15. State Minister for Information Marriyum Aurangzeb confirmed the development and said the prime minister would appear before the investigation team on Thursday and present financial records sought by the panel.
The PM’s sons – Hassan Nawaz and Hussain Nawaz – have already been summoned and grilled for hours by the JIT several times in recent days. Sources said the development was conveyed to the prime minister when he returned from Kazakhstan on Saturday where he had been attending the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit.
Following the development, the prime minister met his close aides in Jati Umra in Lahore Sunday morning and discussed the issue in detail. The prime minister also met his legal aides and deliberated over legal and constitutional aspects of the matter. The legal team also apprised the prime minister about appearance of his sons before the JIT. The prime minister was also informed about the letter written by State Bank of Pakistan chief Saeed Ahmed to Supreme Court registrar over alleged mistreatment by some of the JIT members during the investigation.
“When I appeared before the probing team I felt as I was a death row convict. I was questioned for more than 12 hours in three sessions. I was made to wait for five hours before the first session,” he had complained to the top court. Following consultations, the prime minister decided to honour the summons by the JIT and appear before it.
Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) was quick to respond, terming the summons a positive development. “Prime minister has a central role in Panama case and JIT is definitely going to ask some crucial questions from him,” PPP Punjab President and former information minister Qamar Zaman Kaira said.
“We expect that PML-N will not resort to any extreme tactics during JIT hearing. Last time Nawaz Sharif presented himself to Supreme Court and it [the court] was attacked … I hope this time nothing similar to what PML-N did with Supreme Court in the past will happen,” he cautioned.
The summons to the prime minister have been issued amid reports that former attorney general Salman Aslam Butt and former chief of defunct Ehtesab Bureau Saifur Rehman, who had been tasked by the ruling party to convince Prince Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber al Thani of Qatar to visit Pakistan for recording his statement before the JIT, have failed in their mission. The Qatri royal had provided two letters to establish the money trail for Sharif family’s London properties during the hearing of Panamagate case before the Supreme Court.
