ISLAMABAD - Finance Minister Ishaq Dar on Tuesday said that report of the joint investigation team (JIT) was full of ‘gaps, weaknesses and faults’, and was ‘inconclusive’.

Addressing a press conference here, he said he could not understand why the JIT had failed to reconcile the financial statements. “Either it has no capacity or it is malafide,” Dar was of the view.

Flanked by Railways Minister Saad Rafique and Barrister Zafarullah, the finance minister said that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif did not own any offshore company and the professionals in the legal team of the Sharif family were studying every aspect of the JIT report.

“There were a lot of weaknesses and unsigned documents generated by the JIT. There are many papers in the report, which cannot even be read. Many papers in the report are unbelievable,” Dar said.

He said that the JIT itself wrote to the Supreme Court to decide whether the papers collected by it had any evidentiary value or not. “We should move patiently as the JIT report is inconclusive,” the minister claimed.

He said due process demanded that defendants in the Panama Papers case should be confronted with evidence.

“According to our professional team, nothing is directly reflected on the prime minister,” Dar said.

He spoke at length about the details of his wealth and income tax returns during the years 1981 to 2002 and onwards. Dar said it was wrong to say that he did not file tax returns from 1981 to 2002 and in the subsequent years.

During the regime of General (r) Pervez Musharraf, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) took away his tax record in 2002, he added.

The minister said that when he came to know about the missing tax returns from the JIT, he sent the record available with the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) to the JIT but this fact was not mentioned in the report.

The missing record in the custody of the NAB was also recovered and was delivered to the JIT, he said. The minister said that the JIT did not ask him about many issues, but it simply levelled allegations against him in the report.

Dar said that after Musharraf’s coup, he had got job offers from the Asian Development Bank, Dubai and the United Kingdom. He said he accepted the job of a financial adviser in Dubai and resigned in 2008 to join the federal cabinet in Pakistan.

Dar said on his return to the homeland, he had decided that he and his sons would not do business in the country while he was in politics.

He said he made investments in Pakistan’s treasury bonds and earned profit, and declared everything. Dar, while talking about the charity given by him, said that he was running two charities - Hajveri Trust and Hajveri Foundation.

In the year 2004-2005, he said, he donated Rs80 million to the Hajvery Trust, which looked after 92 orphaned children.

“These children are getting education. One of them has done chartered accountancy and many others are doing A-levels and other courses.”

He said all his assets from a pin to the Mercedes car were part of the record, which could be accounted for.

Dar offered the Supreme Court to conduct audit of his assets from any internationally-renowned audit firm at his expense.

He rejected the JIT’s allegations that his assets were beyond his known sources of income as every penny owned by him could be reconciled.

Dar, while talking about the Hudaibiya Paper Mills case, said 13 judges on separate occasions had quashed the case.

It was first quashed in 1996 and then in 2002, he added.

The finance minister clarified that no public money was used for Hudaibiya Paper Mills.

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) in its verdict had declared that the papers presented in the case had no evidentiary value, he added.

The minister pointed out that Imran Khan was repeatedly running away from legal proceedings in the Supreme Court and other courts.

He said they were answerable to the people of Pakistan for the performance of their government.

Dar asked the opposition to stop the unending cycle of levelling allegations and let Pakistan develop.

The economy of Pakistan was continuously growing after it was pulled away from the verge of default in 2013, he said, adding that Pakistan would have the highest annual growth rate of six percent in the next decade.

Federal Minister for Railways Saad Rafique and Barrister Zafarullah also rejected the JIT report and made it loud and clear that they would contest it in the Supreme Court of Pakistan.

Saad Rafique dubbed Panama Papers revelations as an international conspiracy against the rapid economic growth of Pakistan under the leadership of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

“These children are getting education. One of them has done chartered accountancy and many others are doing A-levels and other courses.”

He said all his assets from a pin to the Mercedes car were part of the record, which could be accounted for.

Dar offered the Supreme Court to conduct audit of his assets from any internationally-renowned audit firm at his expense.

He rejected the JIT’s allegations that his assets were beyond his known sources of income as every penny owned by him could be reconciled.

Dar, while talking about the Hudaibiya Paper Mills case, said 13 judges on separate occasions had quashed the case.

It was first quashed in 1996 and then in 2002, he added.

The finance minister clarified that no public money was used for Hudaibiya Paper Mills.

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) in its verdict had declared that the papers presented in the case had no evidentiary value, he added.

The minister pointed out that Imran Khan was repeatedly running away from legal proceedings in the Supreme Court and other courts.

He said they were answerable to the people of Pakistan for the performance of their government.

Dar asked the opposition to stop the unending cycle of levelling allegations and let Pakistan develop.

The economy of Pakistan was continuously growing after it was pulled away from the verge of default in 2013, he said, adding that Pakistan would have the highest annual growth rate of six percent in the next decade.

Federal Minister for Railways Saad Rafique and Barrister Zafarullah also rejected the JIT report and made it loud and clear that they would contest it in the Supreme Court of Pakistan.

Saad Rafique dubbed Panama Papers revelations as an international conspiracy against the rapid economic growth of Pakistan under the leadership of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.