JIT seeks SC’s permission to visit Qatar

ISLAMABAD: The Joint Investigation Team (JIT) has approached the Supreme Court to seek permission for sending its two-member team to Qatar to record the statement of Prince Hamad Bin Jasim Bin Jaber al Thani in the context of the PanamaLeaks case, sources told The News here on Thursday.

According to the sources, the JIT reviewed the latest proposal of the Qatari prince in which he offered to record his statement but maintained that the JIT would have to come to Qatar as he could not come to Pakistan due to his business engagements.

"Now the JIT has decided to approach the Supreme Court through the Registrar and seek permission to send its team to Doha to record the statement of the Qatari prince," the sources said.

The sources said if the Supreme Court gave the permission, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs would coordinate to set the time-frame acceptable both to the JIT and the Qatari prince for this purpose.

It is pertinent to mention here that the Qatari prince rejected the three options put forward by the JIT for recording his statement, saying that his letter was enough.

The Sharif family had submitted two letters from the Qatari prince in the Supreme Court to establish the money trail of the London Mayfair apartments. In November last year, the Sharif family revealed that the London Mayfair apartments were purchased through offshore investments involving a member of the Qatari royal family.

A letter written by the Qatari prince claimed that the London properties were proceeds of their real estate businesses in which the prime minister’s father, Mian Muhammad Sharif, had invested 12 million dirhams in 1980.

The Supreme Court, in its remarks, had stated if the Qatari prince did not record his statement, his letters would have no legal value in the PanamaLeaks case.