Gulf News

Don’t test my patience, Sharif warns

Family has been accused of presenting forged documents as evidence

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Premier says he is being victimised in the name of accountabi­lity; something which the people of Pakistan would not accept |

The children of Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif could face up to seven years in jail if it was proved that they had submitted fake documents to the panel probing the money laundering allegation­s against the family, the Supreme Court warned yesterday.

The apex court heard the Panamagate scandal case for the fourth consecutiv­e day since the hearing began on Monday, following submission of a report by the Joint Investigat­ion Team (JIT) on July 10, which was tasked by the court to probe allegation of corruption against Sharif and his family.

“The punishment for submitting forged documents in the court is seven years in jail,” warned the three-member panel of judges.

The JIT among other things has observed that some of the documents submitted by the children of Sharif, 67, were tampered with.

A trust deed provided by the prime minister’s daughter Maryam Nawaz, allegedly executed in 2006, was written in Calibri font, which was not commercial­ly available till 2007. It was also notarised from an office in London on Saturday which is officially an off day, raising concern about the authentici­ty of the document.

Justice Ejaz Afzal is heading the probe panel comprising Justice Shaikh Azmat Saeed and Justice Ijazul Ahsan.

Lawyer warned

The judges also warned Salman Akram Raja, the lawyer for Sharif’s children, against a media trial in the case after some of the documents presented by him were leaked to media and were discussed in talk shows on Wednesday.

“You have been conducting a trial in the media and the documents (submitted to the court) have already been discussed in the media,” said Justice Saeed.

“There is a media dais outside, you should give your arguments there as well,” he told Raja, who assured the court that he had not released any documents to the media.

Meanwhile, Raja presented his arguments in detail. The arguments were still going on when the court adjourned the proceeding­s until today.

The judges yesterday again asked the Sharif family to provide the money trail of its various businesses in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the UK.

“The main question is where did the money for these businesses came,” asked the panel.

Later, Fawad Chaudhry, member of a legal team representi­ng Imran Khan of Pakistan Tehreeke-Insaf (PTI), told media outside the court after the hearing that the hearing might be completed by today.

“For us the case is over. Sharif would have to go home and then jailed for corruption.”

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