Not too little, not too late: PM’s children to present new docs in court

• JPCA Ltd, which ran Nielsen and Nescoll after ‘14, sends documents
• Hussain Nawaz beneficial owner, Maryam Nawaz just trustee

It was an eventful day in the Panama saga as it appears that the prime minister’s children have obtained new documents that show that Hussain Nawaz was the beneficial owner of Nielsen Enterprises Limited and Nescoll Limited and that the prime minister’s daughter was, in fact, merely a trustee.

These documents are presumably the ones hinted at by the counsel of the premier’s son, Salman Akram Raja during the court proceedings on Wednesday. As per the documents, which have come through the British Virgin Islands-based JPCA Limited, the affairs of Nielsen Enterprises Limited and Nescoll Limited were earlier managed by Minerva Financial Services till 2014, after which JPCA took over handling the administrative matters of the two concerns.

In an apparent clean chit to the prime minister’s daughter, the documents reveal that Maryam Nawaz had never met the aforementioned companies’ officials. JPCA Limited has also certified that Hussain Nawaz is a beneficial owner of the two companies. Below is an excerpt from the text of the new document:

“To Whom it may Concern

This is to confirm the following:

JPCA Limited held discussions and meetings with Mr Hussain Sharif, already a long-time client of ours, in 2014 at which we discussed our accepting the secretarial administration of Nescoll Limited and Nielsen Enterprises Limited, two companies which had, up to that time, been managed and run by Minerva Financial Services of Jersey (CL.) This was agreed and secretarial administration of the companies was transferred from Minerva to JPCA on 2 June 2014, since when they have remained with us under the terms of our letters of engagement dated 1 August 2014.

We further confirm that JPCA Limited have never met with Mrs Mariam Safdar, nor have we taken any direct instruction from her in matters relating to either Nescoll Limited or Nielsen Enterprises Limited.

Signed on behalf of:

JPCA Limited.”

As per media reports, the agreement with the Gulf Steel Mills will also be in the new documents, as will be some records regarding the sale of 25 per cent of the shares of Ali Steel Mills by the Sharif family.

During the proceedings of the three-member bench of the Supreme Court – to which the special JIT had recently submitted its report – the bench had directed the counsel of the premier’s children, Salman Akram Raja, to present his arguments, but he deferred, saying that new documents pertaining to his clients had been received, which he will present to the court soon.

In Wednesday’s proceedings, the apex court had referred to the JIT report’s fourth volume as “dangerous.” As per the JIT report’s Volume Four, Maryam Nawaz was stated to be the beneficial owner of the offshore companies. The first page of the final report read: “Summary of the Investigation: 2- During the course of investigation the following critical documentary evidence has been acquired by the JIT.

“Confirmation of the beneficial ownership of the Maryam Nawaz of BVI companies, namely; Nielsen Enterprises Limited and Nescoll Limited by the Financial Investigation Agency, British Virgin Islands – (Volume V).”