Money trail still a mystery: Justice Ijaz

ISLAMABAD: When the Supreme Court on Tuesday resumed hearing into Panama JIT report, the prime minister’s counsel Khawaja Harris Ahmed stated that Nawaz Sharif does not own any offshore company.

Responding to PM's lawyer, chief judge of the three-member bench Justice Ijaz ul Ahsan observed that the court is not commenting on the JIT conclusion and a trial court will decide whether to accept or reject it.

Read all about Panama Leaks case here

PM’s lawyer read out the SC’s April 20 order in which 13 questions were referred to the investigators for probe. The JIT exceeded its mandate by adding two more questions to the list, he argued.

At one point, Justice Ijaz observed that the respondent still has not shared the money trail of London flats and it is still a mystery.

‘The prime minister had himself offered to provide all the details but nothing was shared not even with the JIT. The court will review all the evidence collected by the investigators and then will pass an appropriate order,’ the judge remarked.

During the break, PTI’s lawyer Fawad Ch accused the PML-N leaders of misleading the public about the happenings inside the court. The objection filed by the ruling family has no mention of Qatari letter, however, they had announced to reject the report sans statement of Qatari prince, he said.

Read complete JIT report submitted to Supreme Court

After the hearing Information Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb said that JIT finding is not SC verdict. She added that PM Nawaz will fight till last.

The hearing was adjourned till tomorrow.

On Monday, the Sharif family, in the objections submitted to the SC, termed the JIT report as ‘farce’, ‘one-sided’, ‘breach of due process’, ‘illegal’ and ‘inherently biased and unfair’.

Khawaja Haris and Dr Tariq Hassan on behalf of Nawaz and Finance Minister Ishaq Dar respectively filed objections to the JIT report, praying the apex court to reject the findings besides dismissing the petitions filed by PTI, Jamaat-e-Islami and Sheikh Rashid.

In their objections, the Sharif family contended that the JIT members exceeded their jurisdiction and authority conferred by law in obtaining documents from abroad by hiring firms and thereby not only wasted time but also public money in rendering an incomplete, inconclusive and legally untenable and inherently defective report.

They also objected to the hiring of a UK-based firm Quist, admittedly belonging to Akhtar Raja (a cousin of Wajid Zia, the JIT head), saying Raja was also reportedly a PTI worker and the hiring was illegal and unsupported by law, and did not qualify as permissible in terms of Mutual Legal Assistance under Section 21 (g) of the NAO, 1999.

“In the entire report, there is absolutely no incriminating evidence against me in terms of the subject matter of the investigation order,” the Sharif family contended.