These days, the proceedings of the Panama case in the Supreme Court are in full swing. The petitioners say that this property was purchased from the money which was sent by the Prime Minister from Pakistan illegally, while the lawyers of the Prime Minister are trying to prove that the money was not transferred from Pakistan, but it was obtained from the sale of a steel mill in Saudi Arabia, or was gifted by a Prince. There are evidences that a big chunk of the money came from the kickbacks from the mega projects started by the Prime Minister in Pakistan, because getting kickbacks from the foreign contracting firms, depositing the same in foreign banks or in other investments schemes in the name of his sons, and purchasing foreign properties was the easiest and safest way of corruption. 

Recently, BBC has revealed that the properties in London were purchased in early 1990s. There could be a strong link between the award of the Motorway project in 1991 at exorbitant price and the purchase of Park Lane properties near that time frame. He also made some payments of around 480 billion rupees to the private sector immediately after taking over as Prime Minister in 2013, without any budget provision, approval of this huge expenditure from the parliament and any audit of the accounts. If the investigating journalists and some political parties are interested, they can find a link between the award of M2 motorway project and purchase of the London properties which could help with the progression of the Panama case. 

PROF. DR. MUNIR M. HASAN,  

Lahore, January 21.