ISLAMABAD - Qatari prince has refused to appear before the joint investigation team (JIT) as the team on Monday continued its investigations into the Panama Papers case.

The investigators probing the corruption and money laundering charges against the Sharif family were also finalising its fortnightly report to present it before the Supreme Court tomorrow (Wednesday).

It is expected that the team will also present the statements of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s sons Hussain Nawaz and Hassan Nawaz before the apex court.

It has been learnt that Qatari Prince Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim refused to appear before the investigating team saying he was ‘busy’.

The sources said that although Sheikh Hamad had rejected all the three options of the JIT for recording his statement, yet he had confirmed his signatures on the two letters presented before the Supreme Court during hearing of the Panama case.

Sources further said that last week, the JIT had sent a second letter to Qatar’s Al-Thani family, giving them three options to record their statements.

The first option mentioned that the two JIT members could leave for Qatar to record their statements in relation to the probe.

The second option was for the royal family to send a written response to aid the investigation.

According to the third option, a statement by the Qatari family via video link could also be recorded with the JIT.

However, the sources said that the family had declined all these options.

On the last hearing of the Special Bench tasked with implementation of SC’s April 20 verdict in Panama leaks case, Justice Azmat had remarked tha “if somebody does not come, then let him not come and you proceed. If Sheikh Hammad does not come then there will be no value of the Qatari letter.”

In this connection, last Friday, the JIT headed by FIA Additional DG Wajid Zia had grilled Hassan for seven hours asking him the details of his family’s offshore assets and financial dealings abroad.

Similarly, Hussain Nawaz, the eldest son of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, appeared before the JIT four times and recorded his statements in connection with his family’s offshore assets.

The members of the JIT include Amir Aziz of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), Bilal Rasool of Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP), Irfan Naeem Mangi of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), Brig Nauman Saeed, Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and Brigadier Kamran Khursheed from the Military Intelligence (MI).

The apex court has mandated the JIT to probe how the Gulf Steel Mills was set up; what led to its sale; what happened to its liabilities; how did they reach Jeddah, Qatar and the UK; whether Hussain and Hassan Nawaz had the means in the early 1990s to possess and purchase the London flats; whether the sudden appearance of the letters of Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al-Thani is a myth or a reality; who, in fact, is the real and beneficial owner of the Nielsen Enterprises Ltd and Nescoll Ltd; how did Hill Metal Establishment come into existence; where did the money for Flagship Investment Ltd and other companies set up/taken over by the son of the PM come from; and where do the huge sums gifted by Hussain Nawaz to Nawaz Sharif come from.