Safdar comes to rescue Maryam Nawaz

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Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s son-in-law Capt (retd) Safdar informed the Supreme Court that his wife, Maryam Nawaz does not own any offshore company and that Imran Khan’s allegations are ‘baseless’.

In his response submitted in the apex court, Capt (retd) Safdar claimed that he mentioned complete details of his assets in the nomination papers for 2013 general elections. He said his wife regularly pays taxes and the details of assets were shown on her tax returns.

The PML-N lawmaker further stated that no reference has been forwarded to the National Assembly Speaker regarding his disqualification.

“Raising question over ‘eligibility’ in the Supreme Court is a violation of Article 225,” he added.

Capt (retd) Safdar argued, “Article 63 (2) of the Constitutions is limited to post-election disqualification matters relating to a Member of Parliament, which are set out in Article 63 (1) thereof. Allegations pertaining to pre-election qualifications of a Member of Parliament as provided for in Article 62 (1) of the Constitution cannot be raised or made after the holding of the election and notification of the result thereof.”

He said that Imran’s ‘petition has no merit, being based on false and incorrect allegations and is liable to be dismissed.’

The data from the Panama Papers released in April this year allegedly describe Maryam as “the owner of British Virgin Islands-based firms Nielsen Enterprises Limited and Nescoll Limited, incorporated in 1994 and 1993”.

On one of the documents released by International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), the address listed for Nielsen Enterprises is Saroor Palace in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The document, dated June 2012, describes Maryam Safdar as the ‘beneficial owner’.