ISLAMABAD - Finance Minister Ishaq Dar and PM’s younger son Hasan Nawaz appeared on Monday before the Joint Investigation Team (JIT), probing the Sharif family’s business dealings abroad, and complained of being victimised despite ‘their hands being clean’.
Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, after his maiden appearance before the probe team, slammed Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf Chairman Imran Khan, terming him a “liar” and challenging him to present himself for accountability.
He addressed a press conference outside the Federal Judicial Academy, where the JIT’s headquartered, and frequently resorted to personal attacks on the PTI chief in his speech.
He said the government of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz did not commit a single penny of corruption in its present tenure of four years.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s son Hasan, who appeared for the third time before the JIT, said that he has asked the JIT to clearly tell about his fault and reasons behind incessant hearings.
Addressing the media at FJA after a 2 hour and 45 minutes long appearance, Hasan claimed he has answered all the questions posed by JIT. He said that court’s proceedings have ended while probe is still underway.
“The authorities only want to put pressure on PM Nawaz by calling his children,” he said, adding that they have presented all the relevant data to the investigation team.
On the other hand, Qatari Prince Hamad Bin Jassim Bin Jaber Al Thani has refused for the third time to visit Pakistan Embassy to record statement in Panama Leaks case. Sources told that the prince has asked the authorities to come to his house if they want his statement.
A letter from the Qatari prince was produced by Sharif family’s lawyer before the Supreme Court’s five-member bench probing Panama case. The document was dated Nov 5, 2016, from the prince who ruled Qatar from 2007 to 2013 as prime minister.
Qatari sources said that no witness can record the statements in such circumstances which appeared after the leaked photo of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s son while he was being questioned by JIT at the Judicial Academy.
PM Sharif’s Political Secretary yesterday, while talking to a TV channel, demanded that the JIT must go to Qatar and record prince’s statement. He said that JIT’s final report to the Supreme Court will have no value without it.
‘Clean hands’
Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, in his speech, said nobody could point out a single scam during his four tenures as minister and during three tenures of Nawaz Sharif as prime minister.
He quoted former chairman of National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Gen (r) Amjad as saying that he could not find a single rupee of irregularity in the ministry headed by him as all the affairs were conducted with transparency.
He said he answered all the questions asked by the JIT regarding Panama Paper Leaks.
He clarified that he only got one notice from the JIT and it was wrong to say that he was summoned twice but failed to appear.
Ishaq Dar said the name of Nawaz Sharif was not even mentioned in Panama Papers or any other company, adding many of those who were linked to Panama Papers, were doing politics on the issue and were continuing the unending drama.
He said Pervez Musharraf filed references against Sharif family on the basis of malafide, lies and use of force. “This drama has now continued for 23 years.”
He recalled that on February 14, 2000, Musharraf regime filed a reference in a single day showing unholy haste.
Similarly, during the cases of former chief justice Iftikhar Chaudhry and the Steel Mills in 2006, judges of the Supreme Court made the same observation that the cases were filed in unholy haste.
A nine-member bench of the Supreme Court rubbished the steel mills case due to the same reason.
Diatribe against Imran
“How much will you lie?” he asked, addressing Khan. “You should be ashamed of conducting politics on the basis of lies,” he thundered.
“With what face did you file a petition against Nawaz Sharif under Article 62? Look at yourself first,” Dawn News reported him as saying.
“Imran Khan is a scared man, basically. A man who hides his marriage. When you ask him where he married Jemimah Khan, he says Paris ... He’s lying.”
“Imran Khan — even if no one else knows, I know,” Dar warned.
Continuing on his diatribe, the finance minister said: “My love-hate relationship with Imran Khan is very old, but [right] now I am disappointed ... In 1993, when I was president of the Lahore Chamber after resigning from the Investment Board, he used to come to my office in the chamber as well as my private office. He would sit with my two sons and wait for me [to ask for donations].”
“How has he become the second richest parliamentarian? He is not the son of an industrialist, like Nawaz Sharif is.
“He [Imran Khan] is three times richer than I am, and I am a chartered accountant, I have a value. My juniors from 40 years ago are asking between Rs20-25 million a month. How do you have three times the assets [I do]?” he asked.
“We have presented ourselves for accountability. When will you?” he added.
“In 2008, he [Imran Khan] asked my son for a donation for the Shaukut Khanum Hospital ... When I found out that Khan sahab has gambled with the money given to him through donations and zakat, my trust was broken,” the finance minister alleged.
“Let’s talk about morality: this man has ruined the morality of the youth that supports him,” Dar claimed.
“The things he says, he should adhere to them first. He should tell us where his loyalties lie: with Pakistan, with Muslims, or with Jews or Christians?”
“Last year, he was proudly supporting Zac Goldsmith [former spouse Jemima Khan’s brother] for mayor and I was supporting Sadiq Khan. Support your brothers and sisters in Pakistan,” he urged Khan.
“Unfortunately, he has not learnt any lessons ... Unfortunately, his brain is set on one thing. He has been restless since the General Election. First there were the dharnas, then he filed this petition.
“Khan knows he cannot win the election. Even when Musharraf was in power, he would kiss his feet,” Dar claimed.
“You are a liar,” the federal minister said. “You are an illiterate, cowardly tax thief.”