Panama Papers: Pak SC sets up JIT to probe PM
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Supreme Court on Friday set up a highlevel six-member Joint Investigation Team (JIT) to probe corruption charges levelled against Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his sons in the Panama Papers case.
A three-member panel of judges reviewed the names submitted by various departments that had been ordered to do so by the apex court’s April 20 verdict in the case.
The JIT is bound to complete the probe in 60 days unless it is granted additional time.
The court appointed the Federal Investigation Agency’s additional director Wajid Zia as the head of the JIT. Other members are Brigadier Kamran Khurshid from Military Intelligence, Amer Aziz from the State Bank of Pakistan, Bilal Rasool, an executive director at the Securities Exchange Commission of Pakistan, Irfan Naeem Mangi, a director at the National Accountability Bureau, and Brigadier Muhammad Nauman Saeed from the Inter-Services Intelligence.
The JIT is empowered to engage and associate with local and foreign experts to facilitate the investigation and for the collection of evidence.
“All the Executive Authorities throughout Pakistan shall act in aid of the JIT,” the court said in its orders. The JIT will submit fortnightly progress reports to the court.
After issuing the order to set up the JIT, the court adjourned the proceedings in the case and the next hearing will be held on May 22.
Sharif, 67, was granted a temporary breather last month from the Supreme Court which said there was “insufficient evidence” to remove him from office but ordered the setting up of a JIT to probe the graft allegations against his family.
The graft case is about alleged money laundering by Sharif in the 1990s when he twice served as the prime minister to purchase assets in London.