The Supreme Court Monday (today) admonished Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf counsel over failure to establish allegations regarding the Sharif family’s purchase of London flats.
The top court questioned the party’s lead counsel over proof that the Sharif family owned luxury flats in London in 1993.
Despite having significant documents, Naeem Bokhari has seemingly struggled to substantiate the PTI’s case with verbal arguments.
“PTI counsel Naeem Bukhari is once again unable to substantiate his submissions regarding London properties,” Justice Azmat Saeed Sheikh remarked. Sheikh further said, “Bokhari did not submit any scrap of paper to establish that Sharif family owned London properties in 1993.”
Justice Asif Saeed Khosa advised Pakistan Naeem Bokhari to file a reference with National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Chairman Qamar Zaman Chaudhry to reopen the Hudaibiya Paper Mills case.
“We can call the chairman of NAB and ask him why he did not fulfil his responsibilities,” he said.
Justice Khosa was referring to a case in which now Finance Minister Ishaq Dar had submitted a handwritten statement to a magistrate in 2000 alleging that the Sharif brothers had used the Hudaibiyah Paper Mills as a cover for money laundering during the late 90s.
Justice Khosa also admonished Advocate Naeem Bokhari for steering the focus of the case away from the London flats towards the Hudaibiya Paper Mills.
“First in the case you spoke about the London flats. Now, you have jumped towards the confessional statement of Ishaq Dar.”
He told Naeem Bokhari that if the Supreme Court sends the references regarding the case to NAB, it will no longer be able to hold hearings on the Panamagate case, in accordance with Article 184.
Justice Khosa further advised Naeem that the responsibility was upon him to either separate the two cases or ensure they are heard simultaneously.
Justice Ejaz ul Hasan, however, advised the advocate that if the two cases are joined, the Panamagate case will become ‘muddy’.
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In March 11, 2014, the Lahore High Court rejected NAB’s plea of opening corruption references against the Sharifs in the Hudaibiya Paper Mills case. Nine members of the Sharif family, including Nawaz Sharif, Shahbaz Sharif, have been accused of laundering up to Rs642.7 million.
However, Justice Khosa observed that when NAB did not move an appeal against the LHC order in former chairman OGRA Tauqir Sadiq’s case, the Supreme Court while exercising Article 184 (3) of the Constitution accepted that appeal. Justice Khosa also raised queries regarding the failure of authorities to conduct an investigation on Finance Minister Ishaq Dar’s confessional statement.
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