JIT has some problem with Nawaz Sharif: PM’s son

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s son, Hassan Nawaz, and Finance Minister Ishaq Dar on Monday appeared before the six-member joint investigation team (JIT) probing the business dealings of the Sharif family abroad.

This was Hassan’s third appearance before the probe team and it lasted over two hours. While Ishaq Dar appeared first time for 45 minutes only, this is till shortest session with JIT.

Speaking to reporters outside the Federal Judicial Academy (FJA) for the first time in his three visits, Hassan said he had submitted to the JIT information and all documents concerning his companies and businesses in Britain, including “bank statements, loan statements and tax return documents”.

“I asked the JIT one question: ‘You are asking me all these questions, asking for all the documents — it is my right to ask what is your accusation against me?’,” he said.

Hassan also said pejoratively that the JIT seemed to have set up a “Friday bazaar” to issue repeated summonses to his family members and demanded that the team explain what the family is accused of.

“The JIT has been trying since many days to frame a charge [against the Sharif family],” he alleged. Hassan also wondered what the JIT accuses him of, “when the tax authorities of Britain,” where he has held businesses for 15 years, have “never accused [him] of any wrongdoing”. He also alleged that the JIT had no issues with the prime minister’s children, but “the real issue is Nawaz Sharif”.

Speaking after appearing before the Joint Investigation Team (JIT), Finance Minister Ishaq Dar said the government of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz did not commit corruption of single penny in its present tenure of four years.

He said nobody could point out a single scam during his four tenures as minister and during three tenures of Nawaz Sharif as prime minister.

Ishaq quoted former chairman of National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Gen (retd) Amjad as saying that he could not find a single rupee irregularity in the ministry headed by him as all the affairs were conducted with transparency.

He said he answered all the questions asked by the JIT regarding Panama Paper Leaks. He clarified that he only got one notice from the JIT and it was wrong to say that he was summoned twice but failed to appear.

Ishaq Dar said the name of Nawaz Sharif was not even mentioned in Panama Papers or any other company, adding many of those who were linked to Panama Papers, were doing politics on the issue and were continuing the unending drama.

He said Pervez Musharraf filed references against Sharif family on the basis of malafide, lies and use of force. ‘This drama has now continued for 23 years’.

He recalled that on February 14, 2000, Musharraf regime filed a reference in a single day showing unholy haste.

Similarly, during the cases of former chief justice Iftikhar Chaudhry and the Steel Mills in 2006, judges of the Supreme Court made the same observation that the cases were filed in unholy haste. A nine-member bench of the Supreme Court rubbished the steel mills case due to the same reason.

Finance Minister Ishaq Dar said the confessional statement attributed to him was nothing but trash. He said 13 different judges of the Supreme Court of Pakistan had stated that kind of forced confessional statement attributed to him had no evidentiary value.

One of the judges observed that ‘pakoras’ could be sold in such papers, he remarked. He said the opposition had no case against Nawaz Sharif and it only tried to damage the business of Sharif family.

Persons related to other political parties had offshore companies but nobody was talking about them, he added. Ishaq Dar was of the view that in no corner of the world, petitions like Panama Papers were filed in the courts.

It seemed that there were two laws in the country and sons of the Prime Minister were being treated differently, he added. He said Maryam Nawaz Sharif, was daughter of the nation, and it would have been better if she was only sent a questionnaire and was not called in person by the JIT.

He said he would not like if the sisters of Imran Khan, who were also related to his companies were called for questioning. Ishaq Dar said four years back, it was said the country was about to default and it would not be able to make its payments.

He said now, under the leadership of Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif, Pakistan was poised to joining the club of leading economies of G20 by 2030.

Ishaq Dar said during the previous tenures of Ghulam Ishaq Dar, Benazir Bhutto and Pervez Musharraf, trials were held against Sharif family but no wrongdoing was found.

Referring to some of the close associates of Imran Khan, he said ATMs of Imran Khan were sending money abroad. He said Imran Khan was doing politics of lies and the case in California was enough to show his character.

Ishaq Dar said his sons had filed a suit of damages of Rs five billion against Imran Khan. He severely criticised Imran Khan and called him a coward, who had destroyed the youth of Pakistan.

He said Imran Khan had accumulated wealth from unknown sources and was now three times richer than him. ‘When I came to know that Imran Khan gambled on Zakat money I lost trust in him’, he added.

He said Imran Khan could not overcome the election defeat in 2013 and in the last four years staged sit-ins and threatened to lock down Islamabad. He said Pakistan was at a take off stage but there were internal and external conspiracies to stop it from making progress. He said there was no tempering in the documents of Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP).