Sharif probe pushes stocks to 8-year low
PM UNABLE TO ACCOUNT FOR DISPARITY BETWEEN WEALTH, INCOME
Pakistan’s key stock index slumped the most in more than eight years after a probe set up to investigate Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s wealth said it found evidence of possible corruption, plunging the country deeper into political crisis.
The Supreme Court is due to review findings that Sharif was unable to account for the disparity between his wealth and known sources of income, and will convene a hearing on July 17. If the court accepts the charges, it may lead to Sharif’s resignation or removal from power under the constitution.
“There exists a significant disparity between the wealth declared” and the means through which he generated income, according to a report by investigators appointed by the Supreme Court in April. The investigators submitted their report to a panel of justices, who ordered the report be made public on Monday.
If an accused cannot account for his sources of income, “the court shall presume, unless the contrary is proved, that the person is guilty of the offence of corruption,” the report reads.
Pakistan’s benchmark KSE100 Index declined 4.7 per cent at the close in Karachi, the most since February, 2009 and the biggest loser among stocks globally. The report turned out to be more damaging than expected and investors will remain confused amid the biggest political ruction since the government took office in 2013, said Faisal Bilwani, head of equities at Elixir Securities Pakistan Pvt.
Maryam’s tweets
The Prime Minister’s daughter, Maryam Nawaz Sharif, rejected the report in tweet: “Every contradiction will not only be contested but decimated” in the Supreme Court, she wrote. “Not a single penny of public exchequer involved.”
Sharif will challenge the investigators’ findings in court, the minister for planning and reform, Ahsan Iqbal, said on Monday.
The findings “will have a huge impact on Pakistani politics as it will become a major election issue,” political and security analyst Zahid Hussain said in Islamabad. “The major problem will be political uncertainty. Nawaz Sharif will be damaged goods.”
Opposition leader Imran Khan of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party demanded Sharif to resign over the findings.
Removal of the prime minister from power could impede an economy which is growing its fastest in a decade.
Pakistan’s economy grew 5.3 per cent in 2016, it’s highest in 10 years, after Sharif averted a balance-of-payment crisis in 2013 with help from an International Monetary Fund loan and Chinese infrastructure and energy financing. The country’s benchmark stock index has plunged about 10 per cent since it was included in the MSCI Inc.’s emerging markets index in June.