ISLAMABAD: The Joint Investigation Team (JIT), in its Panamagate investigation, has recommended that the National Accountability Bureau should open a reference against the prime minister and his family after it found glaring disparities between their known sources of income and their actual wealth.
The JIT report, a section of which has been circulated on media, suggests that a reference should be filed against Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, his sons Hassan Nawaz and Hussain Nawaz, as well as daughter Maryam Nawaz under Section 9 of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) ordinance 1999.
In the probe completed Monday, the JIT has found that the assets of all four respondents are more than the sources of their income.
Capt (r) Muhammad Safdar Awan, the premier’s son-in-law, has also been included in the names forwarded to NAB.
The JIT had reservations regarding the significant gap and disparity among the known and declared source of income and the wealth accumulated have been observed, according to the JIT document.
“The financial structure and health of the companies in Pakistan having linkages to the Respondents also do not substantiate the wealth of Respondents,” said the document.
The Supreme Court’s special implementation bench was proceeding with the Panama Papers case on Monday after the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) submitted its final probe report.
The report, spread over 10 volumes, was brought in two cartons which were carried on a trolley into the apex court.
After the report’s submission, the bench, headed by Justice Ejaz Afzal Khan and including Justice Sheikh Azmat Saeed and Justice Ijazul Ahsan, ordered the registration of FIR against Security and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) Chairman Zafar Hijazi.
The Federal Investigation Agency had informed the court over the weekend that its inquiry had found Hijazi guilty of tampering records of SECP’s probe into the Chaudhry Sugar Mills, owned by the Sharif family.
