Panel recommends fresh graft case against Sharif
ACTION BEGINS Criminal case against chairman of securities regulatory body
PakistanPrimeMinister Nawaz Sharif faced a fresh challenge on Monday as a panel that investigated corruption allegations against his family recommended the opening of a new case after finding disparities between their sources of income and actual wealth.
The Joint Investigation Team (JIT) formed by the Supreme Court to probe revelations in the Panama Papers leaks about the Sharif family’s offshore assets submitted its final report after a two-month-long investigation during which it quizzed Sharif and members of his family.
The report was not made public but the influential Dawn newspaper said the JIT had found “glaring disparities” between the Sharif family’s sources of income and its assets.
The report, parts of which were circulated in the media, said: “Failure on the part of all respondents to produce the required information confirming ‘known sources of income’ is prima facie tantamount to not being able to justify assets and the means of income.”
The report added there was a “significant gap/disparity” between the declared sources of income and wealth accumulated by Sharif, his sons Hassan Nawaz and Hussain Nawaz and his daughter Maryam Nawaz.
The report suggested the National Accountability Bureau, the country’s main anti-corruption watchdog, should open a “reference” or case against Sharif and his three children under the provisions of the National Accountability Bureau Ordinance of 1999.
The Supreme Court had taken up the matter after it was petitioned by the opposition Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party regarding disclosures in the Panama Papers leaks about offshore assets owned by Sharif’s three children.
After receiving the JIT’s report, a three-judge bench the court ordered the opening of a criminal case against Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan chairman Zafar Hijazi, who had been accused by a federal investigation agency of tampering records to favour Sharif’s family.
The bench also ordered a contempt of court notice to be issued to the Jang Group, a leading media house, for a story published in The News daily that speculated on the findings of the JIT.