Sharifs offered millions to halt Panama case, PM tells court

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan has told a court that one of his friends had informed him that someone known to him and also the Sharif family had approached him with an offer to pay billions of rupees if he could convince him (Khan) to stop pursuing the Panama Papers case before the Supreme Court.

In a writen reply submited in response to a defamation suit filed in 2017 by Leader of Opposition in National Assembly and Pakistan Muslim League-nawaz (PML-N) President Shahbaz Sharif, Imran said he disclosed the incident for the consumption of the public at large and in the interest of the public good which does not constitute any defamation.

“The narration of the incident is neither baseless nor unfounded as it is based on the occurrence of an incident, i.e. the visit of Omar Farooq and his relaying of the offer,” stated the reply of the prime minister filed by his legal team before a sessions court of Lahore.

The reply further said that Imran did not specifically atribute any statement to the plaintiff (Shahbaz Sharif) while narrating the incident.

It says the plaintiff and the defendant are political rivals and have been facing each other in the political arena for more than two decades.

The defamation suit states that Imran uttered false and malicious statements against Sharif that the later offered Rs10 billion to the former through a common friend in exchange of withdrawing the case of Panama Papers pending before the Supreme Court.

Shahbaz Sharif himself made numerous defamatory and malicious statements against Imran, leaders of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-insaf (PTI) and other political parties in the past.

The prime minister in his reply reiterated that the narration of the incident had been relayed in the public interest, in a fair manner and is in no way an assertion which was factually wrong or malicious.

Imran asked the court to dismiss the suit as Shahbaz Sharif is not entitled to any damages.

He also challenges the territorial jurisdiction of the court to hear the suit.

Previously, the legal team of Imran had also questioned the territorial jurisdiction of the court, but had withdrawn its stand.

Additional District and Sessions Judge Mudassir Farid adjourned further hearing of the suit till Aug.4.

The legal counsel for Shahbaz Sharif requested the court to issue frames on the next hearing.