Pakistan's top court orders PM be investigated for corruption

ISLAMABAD, April20 (AFP) - Pakistan's Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was given a reprieve Thursday when the Supreme Court ordered he be investigated for corruption, but ruled there was not yet sufficient evidence to oust him from power.

Sharif and his children are accused of graft in the ongoing case which has captivated Pakistan and threatened to topple the prime minister after the Panama Papers leak last year linked the family to offshore businesses.

The Supreme Court issued a split ruling calling for a joint investigation team of anti-corruption officials along with the powerful Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and Military Intelligence to probe the claims and issue a report within 60 days.

“A thorough investigation is required,” Justice Asif Saeed Khosa told the court, presenting the 540-page written judgement which opens with the epigraph that launches Mario Puzo's 1969 novel “The Godfather “: “Behind every great fortune there is a crime”.

The court has disqualified leaders before, holding former prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani in contempt in 2012 for refusing to re-open corruption investigations into then president Asif Ali Zardari, resulting in his disqualification.

Pakistani cricketer- turned- politician Imran Khan, whose Pakistan Tehreek-iInsaf (PTI) party has spearheaded the push against Sharif, called on the prime minister to resign until the investigation is completed. “Whatever explanations they gave inside the Supreme Court about their source of income have been exposed as lies,” Khan told reporters.

Militancy-plagued Pakistan has seen recent improvements in security and the economy, but the continuing controversy could stalk the ruling party ahead of general elections that must be held by the end of next year.

It erupted with the publication of 11.5 million secret documents from Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca last year which documented the offshore dealings of many of the world's rich and powerful. Among the global elite implicated were three of Sharif's four children -- his daughter and presumptive political heir Maryam, and his sons Hasan and Hussein. At the heart of the case is the legitimacy of the funds used by the Sharif family to purchase several high-end London properties via offshore companies.