Proved that PM’s speeches in NA were political statements, says Imran

ISLAMABAD: The Chairman of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Imran Khan, on Wednesday said the statement of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s lawyer in the Supreme Court proved that his (Nawaz) speeches in the National Assembly were nothing but political statements.

Talking to journalists outside the Supreme Court, Imran said they would present their viewpoint before the apex court tomorrow (Friday) on whether or not a commission on the Panama Papers issue be constituted.

However, Imran was quick to add that the prime minister should in principle step down, for the investigation agencies are working under him and wondered how would they conduct the investigation as such.

The PTI chairman noted that the lawyer of the prime minister claimed in the apex court that Nawaz’s speech in parliament was a political statement. Imran pointed out that Nawaz Sharif had said in his speech that they had all the relevant record regarding the money trail, which could be produced.He also asserted that according to the Constitution, the prime minister was answerable to parliament.

Imran claimed that they (Sharifs) also did not have any proof regarding the letter from the Qatari prince. “Today, we learnt in the Supreme Court from the Sharifs’ lawyers that they have nothing as evidence against what we have presented before the apex court. We proved 26 million dirhams loss of the steel mill and today they claimed someone had paid for this. But who? They just don’t know and someone said everything was done on chits,” he said.

He wondered if the people roamed about on camels in 1980s and that there was no fax or other machines, “and this way they joked with us”.PTI’s Vice-Chairman Shah Mehmood Qureshi reiterated that the Supreme Court had observed during Tuesday’s hearing that the onus of the proof was on the lawyer of the prime minister with regard to the money trail and London properties. He added the prime minister and his family had no proof of how they had purchased the flats and how money was arranged and then reached London.

Qureshi maintained the prime minister’s lawyer failed to answer the three questions the apex court had asked a day earlier. He added the Sharif family conceded the Gulf Steel ran in losses and now they would also accept the other facts.

“The prime minister’s real face has been exposed before the nation after his lawyer said they had no documentary evidence of their assets during 1980s, which included documents about the financial matters,” retorted PTI’s Central Information Secretary Naeemul Haq while talking to media persons outside the apex court. He alleged the lawyers of the prime minister lied that they had no telex or digital-based evidence and charged the government tried to mislead the apex court.

Naeemul Haq was of the firm belief that the Supreme Court would soon announce its judgement in the Panama Papers case and that the prime minister would not remain in office. He added they had proved what they were supposed to and now it was the Sharifs’ turn to do so, which they would not.

PTI leader Fawad Chaudhry said that arguments during the hearing were mainly based on two points i.e. Maryam Nawaz was dependent on Nawaz Sharif and how profit to the tune of Rs19.6 million was earned from a used BMW, given to Maryam under a gift scheme. He added the value of the vehicle was told to be Rs3.6 million.

He noted that at this juncture an interesting thing came up, when the chief justice remarked how it was possible that a vehicle, valuing Rs3.5 million, made this much profit and said they used to hear in childhood about a hen that laid eggs of gold.

Fawad said the court also deliberated on how Maryam was dependent on Nawaz Sharif, who in her income tax returns, had shown zero income, zero against utility services and telephone bills and zero with regard to the expenditure on her children’s education.He continued that her travelling expenses (Rs3.6 million) were more than her income.