JIT gets details of PM’s assets, seeks Hudaibya record

ISLAMABAD: Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Thursday forwarded details of Prime Minister (PM) Nawaz Sharif’s and Captain Safdar’s assets to Joint Investigation Team (JIT) that was constituted by Supreme Court to probe into Panamagate case.

The commission has also sent nomination papers of both to the team. During a meeting headed by Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) Additional Director-General Wajid Zia, JIT asked National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to provide complete record of the Hudaibya Paper Mills case.

Terms of Reference (ToRs) were also reviewed in the session that was attended by JIT members including State Bank of Pakistan (SBP)’s Amer Aziz, Securities & Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP)’s Bilal Rasool, Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI)’s Brigadier Nauman Saeed, Military Intelligence (MI)’s Brigadier Kamran Khursheed and Director of National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Irfan Mangi.

According to reports, JIT would seek assistance of experts from FIA and other departments to ensure fair investigation whereas it would also comprehensively review court’s decisions and available documents.

The investigation team will submit a progress report after every two weeks to the apex court whereas it is also supposed to complete probe within two months.

Sources said, "The JIT will review assets details filed by the prime minister to ECP in last four years and then issue notices to Nawaz Sharif and his children to move forward in the investigation process."

According to the Gazette notifications issued by ECP, value of the assets of Nawaz Sharif in 2011 was Rs166 million, which swelled to Rs261.6 million in 2012 and then to Rs1.82 billion in 2013. Then, in 2014, the declared value of his assets rose to around Rs2 billion.  He received over Rs215 million from his son Hussain Nawaz in 2015. He had previously received remittances from his son, worth Rs239 million and Rs197. 5 million in 2014 and 2013, respectively.

Nawaz Sharif owns a Toyota Land Cruiser and two Mercedes vehicles. The house he lives in is owned by his mother. He also has multiple foreign and local currency accounts, agricultural land and investments in industrial units such as sugar, textile and paper mills. He also has ownership of birds and animals worth Rs2 million.

His wife Kulsoom Nawaz has land and a house in Changa Gali, Abbottabad, that is worth Rs80 million, a bungalow on The Mall in Murree, worth Rs100 million, as well as shares in the family business.