Islamabad July 10 (TNS): The Joint Investigation Team (JIT) — probing the Panama Papers case against Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, his sons Hussain and Hassan Nawaz, for holding assets beyond known means of income.
Members of the high-powered JIT submitted on Monday its fourth and final, 256-page report to the apex court.
The JIT in its report recommended that a reference should be filed against the trio — the prime minister and his two sons — in the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) for probing the wealth and assets that the three possess beyond the known source of income.
“Failure on the part of all Respondents to produce the requisite information confirming “known sources of income’ is prima facie tantamount to not being ablento justify assets and the means of income,” the report read.
After receiving the report, the top court allowed the petitioners and respondents in the case to obtain copy of the report from the apex court’s registrar office.
Directing the counsels of both sides to appear in the court on July 17 (Monday) for further hearing, the three-judge implementation bench directed the government to continue providing security to the JIT members until further orders.
During Monday’s hearing, the bench took strong exception over misreporting about the Panamagate JIT by the Jang Group.
Issuing contempt notices to the media group’s owner Mir Shakeelur Rehman, his brother Javedur Rehman and reporter Ahmad Noorani over false reporting, the court asked why it should not start proceedings against them under Article 204 of the Constitution.
“Misreporting is evident from the news,” Justice Ijazul Ahsen observed.
The bench has summoned the transcript of the speeches of Railways Minister Saad Rafiq, Senator Nihal Hashmi and Asif Karmani regarding the conduct of JIT. It also sought complete detail of advertisements given by the government to different media groups.
Meanwhile, the bench ordered registration of an FIR against Zafar Hijazi, chairman of the Securities & Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP), for his alleged involvement in tampering records of the companies owned by the ruling family.
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