Two members of the joint investigation team (JIT) probing international financial investments of Sharif family, Brigadier Kamran from Military Intelligence (MI) and Irfan Naeem Mangi from the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) left Pakistan on Tuesday early morning, and reached Dubai to examine the documents of Gulf Steel Mills provided by the Sharif family.
However, some media outlets reported day in and out that the JIT members reached Doha– capital of Qatar – to record the statement of former Qatari premier Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al-Thani, the man who wrote two letters to Supreme Court claiming he was in business with Mian Mohammad Sharif [PM’s father] and gave money to purchase London property in Panamagate case.
“Following the tensions between the Gulf States and Qatar, all flights are banned through Dubai to Qatar too, then how can they visit Qatar via Dubai? They went to examine and re-verify the documents of Gulf Steel Mill’s owned by Sharif family. If they were tasked to record the statement of Qatari Prince, then they could leave for Qatar, not Dubai,” said sources, close to the development.
According to the ticket details, available with Pakistan Today, it is learnt that JIT members, Karman and Mangi via flight number EK0615 of Business class departed at 3:10 am and arrived in Dubai on terminal 3 at 5:20 am. They are scheduled to come back after one-day’s short visit from Dubai to Islamabad via flight EK0612 through BOEING 777-300 ER aircraft today (July 5) at 7:30am.
It is noted that earlier, documents submitted by the children of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif contain the respondent’s version of how Gulf Steel Mills were set up in Dubai to Supreme Court in Panamagate case.
“…In the year 1973, after severe victimisation and unfair treatment of the then government, Late Mian Muhammad Sharif moved to the United Arab Emirates and had set-up Gulf Steel Mills in the year 1974 in Dubai,” the documents read.
Late Mian Muhammad Sharif carried on this very business through his nephew Muhammad Tariq Shafi and Muhammad Hussain was a partner in the Company.
Earlier, during the hearings of the Panamagate case in the Supreme Court, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s counsel submitted two letters authored by Hamad Bin Jassim Bin Jaber Al-Thani, the prime minister of Qatar from 2007 to 2013, as evidence backing his claims.
In the first letter, Al-Thani said the premier’s father, Mian Mohammad Sharif, made an investment of approximately 12 million dirhams in the Al-Thani family’s real estate business. The second Qatari letter was also accompanied by transaction details and auditor’s reports regarding the Gulf Steel Mills in Dubai and the Azizia Steel Mills in Jeddah.
It is noted that JIT was in the process of winding up the probe by this week, after which it would finish compiling the final investigation report by the second week of July before it is submitted to the apex court by the July 10 deadline.
