ISLAMABAD - The Joint Investigation Team (JIT), formed by Supreme Court (SC) to probe much-hyped Panama Leaks case, has decided to seek record of Sharif family’s tax returns from Federal Board of Revenue (FBR).
Sources said the six-member team, headed by Federal Investigation Agency Additional Director-General Wajid Zia, is considering writing a letter to the FBR for providing the probe body with details of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his sons’ financial statements from 1985 to 2016.
The other members of the team include State Bank of Pakistan’s Amer Aziz, Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan’s Bilal Rasool, Inter-Services Intelligence’s Brigadier Nauman Saeed, Military Intelligence’s Brigadier Kamran Khursheed and National Accountability Bureau’s Irfan Mangi.
Quoting sources INP reported that the investigators might summon Finance Minister Ishaq Dar in Hudabiya Paper Mills scandal. A meeting of JIT under the chairmanship of Wajid Zia was held and the legality of Qatari prince’s letter was reviewed. The team will also seek help from the legal team to review the legality of Qatari prince’s letter.
They said the JIT members observed that NAB had provided non-certified documents and they decided to use only certified documents. The team also decided to acquire the services of an audit firm of the UK. The task to search audit firm was handed over to Bilal Rasool.
The sources said the JIT after reviewing the records will prepare a questionnaire for the Prime Minister and his children. They added that the JIT might issues notice to the PM and his children to appear before it.
Earlier, JIT was informed by Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) that PM Nawaz has no property abroad but he took Rs20O million from Hussain Nawaz in 2015 in the form of dollars and Euros. The cost of the premier’s Jati Umra building was shown Rs 4 million in the documents while he had declared his seven bank accounts. The investigation team is required to submit progress report after every two weeks to SC while it is also supposed to complete probe within two months.
On April 20, Justice Asif Saeed Khosa had announced 540-page verdict on the Panama leaks case, saying that the court issued a split ruling calling for a joint investigation team. Two of the five judges branded PM Nawaz Sharif as "dishonest" and saying he should be disqualified, but they were outnumbered.
In April last year, the Panama Papers leaks exposed the ruling Sharif family’s assets abroad, prompting opposition to wage a war on the government. The top court took up the case in October last year on petitions filed by PTI, AML and JI and reserved the verdict in February after conducting hearings on A daily basis.