Legal experts say PTI has no ground for any legal action; lacks basic evidence
LONDON: The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has failed in over four months to initiate a legal case in London against children of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif despite bombastic statements issued by the top PTI leadership, vowing to mount legal cases in London but then doing nothing at all to do anything practical.
Top civil and criminal law experts have opined that the PTI has failed to do anything beyond political statements because of the fact that there are no legal grounds for a criminal or civil case against the members of Sharif family in Britain - be it the Panama Papers matter or the ownership of properties.
Several PTI leaders issued statements to television channels and newspapers vowing to start legal proceedings against Hasan, Hussain and Maryam Nawaz Sharif but it turns out that all these statements were for tickers on television screens, political consumption and publicity and nothing substantial.
In the second week of April this year whilst in London, the PTI leader Imran Khan himself stressed that he will ensure that a legal case is started against children of Nawaz Sharif in London but nothing practical has been done ever since. He had constituted a team of PTI Karachi leader Faisal Vawda and PTI’s UK president Barrister Waheedur Rehman Miah to make sure that the Panama Papers matter is routed through the British courts. In nearly four months since that committee was formed, the only thing that has happened is one after another media statement.
Then entered into the fray the PTI’s Lahore leader Barrister Waleed Iqbal who announced that he will launch a legal bid against Hasan and Hussain Nawaz and was going to London with that specific aim. Tickers were run on TV as breaking news and Waleed Iqbal visited London and left for Lahore without doing anything.
Imran Khan has visited London three times ever since but no action has been taken because he is aware that there are no grounds for a civil or criminal case.
While the PTI’s Pakistan leaders have issued bombastic statements about legal case in UK, Barrister Waheed, who practises law in UK, has been more pragmatic and said that he will launch a “public awareness campaign” and will “lobby the British parliamentarians” on Panama Papers.
Barrister Waheed has said that “private prosecution” will be considered and a fund will be set up to raise money for this purpose but he fell short of making any big statement or promise because knowing the English legal system, he knows there are no chances of a successful prosecution and in fact there are no grounds at all for a case.
Legal experts are of the opinion that it’s impossible to initiate a case against those named in Panama Papers because of the fact that no law has been broken in the UK or anywhere else and setting up offshore companies is a legitimate practice and it is protected by the financial laws of the UK as well as in all other jurisdictions where offshore companies are a legal holding.
For any civil or criminal case to start in any court of law, it has to be established that laws have been broken and that a certain party has been wronged but in this case the claimant has to stand up and file the case.
Citizens and politicians can send letters through their lawyers and solicitors to Hasan Nawaz and for that matter anyone else but the legal value of that letter would be nothing more than a tissue paper. The respondent in this matter is not obliged to reply to the claimant. If the claimant goes to the court - after paying fees - there is again no chance that it will go anywhere because of the fact that the claimant has to prove personal interest in the case and wrongdoing and UK courts will show no interest in Pakistani political drama and any such claim will be struck off at the first stage.
Similar scenario will happen if the case is taken to any high court of England and Wales where the judges would be reluctant to entertain a case which has no foundations and which is more about politics than criminal wrongdoing.
Barrister Rashad Aslam said that to have an offshore company is not a crime in UK. “So far, not a shred of evidence has been provided that any money laundering has been carried out. There is nothing against members of the Sharif family which could form the basis of a criminal or civil case or British justice system would have come into action.”
He added: “Most importantly, for any prosecution, the burden of proof is very high, it seems that PTI doesn’t have any strong evidence in order to prove any criminal activity and meet the threshold. The PTI has no legal grounds in the UK and that’s well understood by the legal minds of the party.”
Lawyer Iftikhar Ahmed, who has fought litigation cases at the European level, said that the PTI leaders will not go for private prosecution under any circumstances because firstly there are no grounds and secondly it could backfire in many ways. “Private criminal prosecution can cost an arm and a leg and if failed one must be prepared for a cost order that can scare the living daylight out of someone.”
City of London financial analyst Hasnain Ahmed said that it’s “incorrect and perhaps illegal to claim on the news you know something when you are unable to prove it”.
He said there are serious legal repercussions for the PTI if it somehow manages to bring about a case and then unable to prove it. “It explains why nothing has been done in four months and why nothing will be done in the future. It’s all about lack of evidence and the fact that there is no case.”
