Today on April 17, Justice Ejaz Afzal Khan-led three-member bench will hear the Panama Leaks case for the first time after the submission of voluminous Joint Investigation Team (JIT) report last Monday. Though the prominent lawyers differ on charting the future course of Panama Leaks, they are unanimous that the JIT report has unearthed many skeletons from the closet of House of Sharif.
In its April 20 judgment, the five-member Supreme Court bench ordered constitution of a JIT to further probe allegations with regards to the Panama Papers case, leading Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to narrowly escape disqualification.
The six-member team was led by Federal Investigation Agency’s Additional Director General (immigration) Wajid Zia and comprised of Amer Aziz of the State Bank of Pakistan, Bilal Rasool of the Securities & Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP), Irfan Naeem Mangi of National Accountability Bureau (NAB), Brigadier Nauman Saeed from ISI, and Brigadier Kamran Khurshid from MI.
Justice Asif Saeed Khosa, who headed the five-judge bench, announced the much-awaited reserved order over a set of petitions moved by the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI), Jammat-i-Islami (JI) and the Awami Muslim League (AML).
The three judges—Justice Ejaz Afzal Khan, Justice Azmat Saeed Sheikh and Justice Ijazul Ahsan—of the bench differed with the opinion of two other judges and directed for an appropriate investigation in the case.
According to the order, which is the operative part of the judgment, the Supreme Court issued a direction to set up the JIT within seven days (of the judgment) to investigate and submit its report within 60 days about the allegations, published in the Panama Papers.
“The JIT formed by the bench in its judgment was an empowered, fact-finding commission that will exert the facts and check the veracity of the statements made by both parties,” said former Additional District and Sessions judge and SC Advocate Majid Bashir.
The JIT thoroughly investigated the following matters:
- How did Gulf Steel Mill come into being, how it was sold and what happened to its liabilities?
- Where did sale proceeds of the Gulf Steel Mill end up and how they reached Jeddah, Qatar and UK?
- Whether Hassan and Hussain had the means in their tender ages to possess and purchase the flats?
- Was sudden appearance of the letter of Hammad Bin Jassim al-Thani a myth or a reality?
- How did bearer shares crystallise into the flats?
- Who is the real owner of M/s Nielson Enterprises Limited and Nescoll Limited?
- How did Hill Metal Establishment come into existence?
- Where did money for the Flagship Investment Limited and other companies set up or taken over by Hassan Nawaz come from?
- Where do huge sums running into millions gifted by Hussain Nawaz to his father (Nawaz Sharif) drop in from?
In its 275 page summary of investigation accompanied by 10 volumes of annexures, evidence, documents and receipts that run into thousands of pages, the JIT submitted its final report to SC. However, the final report misses one vital component on which Sharif family’s case was hanging: the statement by Qatari Prince Hammad bin Jassim.
THE ‘MISSING’ STATEMENT OF QATARI PRINCE:
Although, the six-member JIT led by Wajid Zia of FIA sent messages through special courier to Prince Hammad, giving him three options to record his statement—via video link, in person, or in presence of JIT members, who would travel to Qatar to record his statement. However, Sheikh Hammad refused to opt any.
Late in the investigation, he had agreed to entertain JIT members at his residence and provide evidence and record statement, but the investigation team didn’t opt for it.
Originally, Prince Hammad bin Jassim, in his letters, admitted that a deal was struck between his father Jasim bin Muhammad Al Thani and late Mian Sharif, father of Nawaz Sharif, where latter invested an amount of 12 million Dirhams in real estate business.
It is pertinent to mention here that the SC had ordered that, in case Qatari prince refused to record his statement, his letters can be thrown out altogether.
Also, in a press conference, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif has made it loud and clear that any report that doesn’t include a statement of Qatari prince won’t be accepted by the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N). Maryam Nawaz, PM’s daughter, has also rejected the report in a tweet.
Sources within the party say that PML-N will go all out on JIT report, and will challenge it in its entirety in the Supreme Court today.
