Nawaz got Rs1 bn gifts from son, his firm: JIT

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is the recipient of 88 percent of the net profit earned by Saudi Arab-based Hill Metals Establishments (HME) through gifts and remittances for the six years (2010-15), leaving behind only 12 percent for the purported sole owner, Hussain Nawaz, the JIT has reported.

This profit he received as gift not only from his son but also directly from the company which “gift” was not separately declared before the court and the JIT could only notice this breakup through acquiring his bank record in Pakistan.

The company, according to the tax laws, can’t offer gift to any individual but only pay dividend to his shareholders and paid directors thus raising questions about Nawaz Sharif’s beneficial link with this business enterprise that he has not declared in his assets.

The overall amount that Nawaz Sharif directly received from Hussain and the HME (2010-2017) is Rs1.166 billion. The JIT has separated the first six years from the last one year for the purpose of calculating percentage of the profit as the profitability position of HME for the year 2016 was not provided by Hussain Nawaz.

The JIT tried to establish the beneficial linkage of Nawaz Sharif with the HME through sourced documents obtained through a law firm, Guernica International Justice Chamber, which confirmed to the JIT that documents were obtained from “a number of open and confidential sources and that the documents are true copies of originals and their contents have been properly and extensively verified.”

Other than links of the HME with Nawaz Sharif, these documents also reveal the company’s transaction with HDS (owned by Ishaq Dar’s son), Hassan Nawaz and Saeed Sheikh who allegedly deposited millions of dollars in the HME account in nine tranches.

A couple of documents obtained through the law firm, unsigned though, show that Nawaz Sharif transferred a sum of (Saudi Arabian Riyals) SAR750,000 from his account (No 462 60801 3344552) at a bank in Jeddah to the account of Hussain Nawaz maintained at the same bank branch, who further transferred that to the account of HME maintained with the bank, according to JIT report.

These documents, if accepted, establish a direct nexus and link “between HME and the Respondent No. 1 in which Respondent No. 7 is being employed as a conduit and give much credence to the view that the Respondent No. 1 has significant beneficial interest in HME and that, contrary to the claimed position, Respondent No. 7 is not the true and sole owner of HME but a nominee or ostensible owner only with limited, if any, actual beneficial interests in HME,” the JIT reported.

Another source document the JIT obtained through law firm was the management report of HME for the quarter ended on March 31, 2010 which established that “after a long period of stress and strained performance” HME “finally came out of the red” for the first time which indicates that no sooner did the company start generating profit, it started transferring to Nawaz Sharif from 2010 onward.

While Nawaz Sharif received money as a gift from Hussain and the HME when he was in opposition, the amount transferred in his account after he became prime minister was declared as foreign remittances. “Till the year 2012-13, the gifts received by Respondent No. 1 from Respondent No. 7 & MHE were declared as gifts whereas, the same amounts were termed remittances after the year 2013-14 in tax returns of Respondent No. 1 after he assumed charge as prime minister,” reads the JIT report.

Although PM Nawaz Sharif has shown all remittances as gifts from his son, “the record obtained from Respondent No. 1 bank accounts in Pakistan revealed that the above remittances included the payments made from the account of HME, a business entity as opposed to Respondent No. 7 personally,” notes the JIT.

It then raises question not answered by Hussain Nawaz: “Respondent No. 7 was unable to produce any banking record or relevant documents of the source at KSA which may shed light on the so-called huge gifts given to Respondent No. 1.”

The JIT report notes that Hussain Nawaz said the amounts were gifted “so as to free his father from any financial constraints, given his full time involvement in politics” however the scrutiny of Nawaz Sharif’s bank accounts reveal that more than 70 percent of the gifts he received were in turn gifted to Maryam Safdar. Moreover, a substantial amount of Rs100 million was given as donation to PML-N by Nawaz Sharif in 2013 and out of which Rs45 million was transferred back to him the same year. Why it was done has not been explained by him, according to the JIT report.

The documents that JIT obtained from the law firm also included one of the HME papers containing a table bearing the headline “Funds Returned” and which among others contain the entries showing payment of (Great British Pounds) GBP6000 to Flagship Investments Limited owned by Hassan Nawaz, an entry showing payment SAR1,912,500 to “Hassan”, an entry showing payment of SAR1,875,000 to HDS (owned by Ali Dar, son of Ishaq Dar and son-in-law of Nawaz Sharif), another entry showing payment of SAR560,000 to HDS and an entry showing payment of SAR3,752,300 to CFZ, purportedly owned by Hassan Nawaz with Nawaz Sharif its chairman of the board of directors.

Yet another document acquired through the law firm indicates that the HME also received funds amounting to SAR59,999,860 ($15,999,963) in nine separate tranches from one Saeed Sheikh which Hussain Nawaz didn’t mention during any of his appearance before the JIT. Saeed Sheikh is maternal uncle of Javed Kiyani. Saeed was allegedly involved in sending substantial amount in traveler cheques to Javed from outside Pakistan through a personal courier (Phil Berry) which were deposited and converted into dollars bearer certificates and liquidated and handed over to Sharif family at Model Town, according to Rehman Malik report.