Panama JIT seeks Sharif family's television interviews for further probe

ISLAMABAD - The Joint Investigation Team (JIT) probing the Panama case in the purview of Panama judgment on April 20 sought the television interviews and statements of the Sharif family on Tuesday.

The JIT asked the Press Information Department to submit a summary of the prime minister Nawaz Sharif, Hussain Nawaz, and Maryam Nawaz's statements.

The team will compare the statements of the PM's family and other documentary evidence and would forward it to the six-member JIT.

Earlier, on Monday, the JIT decided to hire the services of a private British audit firm to probe documents related to Panama Papers, sources told Geo News.

Security and Exchange Company representative in the JIT Bilal Rasool was handed over the responsibility of contacting the British audit firm.

It was also observed during the meeting that the documents provided by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) were not verifiable and so it was agreed upon that the JIT would only use verified documents.

The Supreme Court’s special bench constituted the JIT to probe funds used by the prime minister's children to buy properties in London through offshore businesses.

The Federal Judicial Academy in Islamabad was declared the JIT Secretariat and members moved their offices to the location for the investigation.

The JIT has been directed to complete its proceedings in sixty days and it would present its report fortnightly to the supreme court of Pakistan.

In its judgement, the Supreme Court had also outlined the scope of the proposed JIT, which would probe how the Gulf Steel Mills in UAE came into being, what led to its sale, what happened to its liabilities, where did its sale proceeds end up, how did they reach Jeddah, Qatar and the UK, whether Hussain Nawaz and Hassan Nawaz in view of their ages at the time had the means to possess and purchase the flats, and whether the sudden appearance of the letters of Hamad Bin Jassim Bin Jaber Al-Thani of the Qatar was a myth or a reality.

The court also asked how bearer shares translated into the four upscale flats in London, who was the real and beneficial owner of Nielsen Enterprises Limited and Nescoll Limited, how did Hill Metal Establishment come into existence, where did the money for Flagship Investment Limited and other companies set up or taken over by Hassan Nawaz and where did the working capital for such companies come from and where do the huge sums running into millions gifted by Hussain Nawaz to the prime minister drop in from, Dawn News reported.