- One of rulers’ counsels yet to receive remaining half of his fees
Hassan Nawaz and Hussain Nawaz along with their sister Maryam Nawaz, children of Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif, are again searching for lawyers to advise and assist them in post-Panama Papers verdict after being utterly dissatisfied with the way their counsel Advocate Salman Akram Raja, represented them.
Reportedly, Salman Raja was brought in place of Advocate Akram Sheikh, who originally represented both the brothers. Out of all three counsels – Makhdoom Ali Khan who represented the prime minister, Salman Raja who represented Hassan and Hussain, and Shahid Hamid who represented Maryam, her husband Muhammad Safdar and Finance Minister Senator Ishaq Dar – Hamid was able to score a ‘clean chit’ for his clients.
In its verdict, the Supreme Court had said that Maryam Nawaz was not her father’s dependent and set aside the issue of dependency for once and all. Interestingly, the court also had not implicated her as beneficial owner of the Nelson and Nescoll, two ‘offshore’ companies.
Although being the only success among all three counsels, Sharif family hired to fight the most important case of their life, sources privy to the developments said that Shahid Hamid was yet to receive the full payment of his advocacy services. According to the sources, the amount agreed between Sharif family and Shahid Hamid was 16 million rupees to represent daughter Maryam, her husband Safdar and Ishaq Dar.
An initial payment of 8.6 million rupees was made and remaining amount was to be paid later. However, even after the hearings concluded and judgment was reserved for around two months and announced on April 20, 2017, the remaining 7.4 million rupees in fees is yet to be paid to the council. Despite repeated attempts, Hamid wasn’t available for a comment. -MIAN ABRAR/SHAH NAWAZ MOHAL
