Daily Times

Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif Friday admitted that he had gifted most of the money received from abroad to his daughter Maryam Nawaz, a private TV channel reported.

The former prime minister has so far recorded responses to 120 out of a total of 151 questions before an accountability court in Islamabad.

He admitted receiving money from abroad and said he had gifted 77 per cent of it to his daughter. He reiterated that he has never been a part of any transaction related to the sale of Al-Azizia Steel Mills. “I have never claimed to own Al-Azizia Steel Mills. I have always said I had nothing to do with it [mills],” he told the court.

Nawaz pointed out that all the money he received from abroad was documented in his tax returns, and that he was free to spend it. He said he had never personally relied on Qatari Prince Sheikh Hamad Bin Jassim Bin Jaber Al-Thani’s letters in front of the Supreme Court, insisting that it did not at all seem from the letters that the Qatari royal family was not willing to cooperate with the joint investigation team (JIT) probing the case. “The JIT kept unnecessarily strict conditions for recording their [Qataris’] statements. It seemed from the JIT’s ways that it did not want to record the prince’s statement,” he said.

Nawaz said that the statements of his sons, Hasan and Hussain, to the JIT were not recorded in his presence. “They were not presented before this court, nor are they being tried along with me,” he said, adding that any statements associated with his sons could not be presented as evidence against him. “Their interviews can’t be presented as evidence. During investigation, no one’s statements serve as acceptable evidence,” he argued before the court.

The court later adjourned the hearing till Monday.

Separately, the accountability court Friday wrote a letter to the Supreme Court to seek another extension in the deadline to conclude the cases.

Published in Daily Times, November 17^th 2018.