ISLAMABAD – Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif will address the nation today following the Supreme Court ruling on Panama Papers, which is being hailed by ruling PML-N as ‘victory’.
On Thursday, the Supreme Court issued an order for the formation of Joint Investigation Team (JIT) to probe the Sharif family’s involvement in corruption as stated in the Panama leaks.
Neither a clean chit nor a disqualification
A five-judge bench, comprising Justice Asif Saeed Khosa, Justice Gulzar Ahmed, Justice Ejaz Afzal Khan, Justice Azmat Saeed and Justice Ijazul Ahsan, had examined arguments presented by the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI), the Jamaat-i-Islami (JI), the Watan Party and the All Pakistan Muslim League, who were portraying the case as a campaign against corruption.
Justice Asif Saeed Khosa announced the final verdict in the case against Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his family at Courtroom 1 at the apex court.
The premier’s daughter, Maryam Nawaz, tweeted a photo of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, his family and PML-N leaders celebrating the verdict with smiles and embraces.
Praise & glory be to Allah alone. Shukrana & mubariks ? pic.twitter.com/yM92bIJJoc
— Maryam Nawaz Sharif (@MaryamNSharif) April 20, 2017
The final verdict is split 3-2 among the bench, with two dissenting notes in the judgement by Justice Khosa and Justice Gulzar. The two judges ruled against PM Nawaz Sharif, whereas the other three were in favour of forming a JIT.
Justice Khosa asserted that the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) and National Accountability Bureau (NAB) had been unsuccessful in playing their role effectively.
The JIT is to include officials NAB, FIA, State Bank of Pakistan, Inter-Services Intelligence, Military Intelligence, the bench said, and will be led by a director-general level FIA officer.
