Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on Monday filed a petition with the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) against Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his family for alleged corruption.

The petition filed against the prime minister and his family members was over corruption offences, and the PTI officials urged NAB to perform its duties in light of the revelations made in the Panama leaks and other evidence put forth by them. PTI Spokesperson Naeemul Haq and member Saifullah Niazi filed the reference.

The political party also seeks to reopen a corruption case (of Rs 130 billion), which was closed down 10 days ago, on July 15, as the NAB officially announced that it had acquitted Ishaq Dar and closed the investigation, which was opened in the year 2000. The petition was converted into one, against Nawaz Sharif and the finance minister, mentioning Dar’s admitted transgressions.

An investigation published on April 3 by an international coalition of more than 100 media outlets ? based on 11.5 million records and 2.6 terabytes of information drawn from the internal database of Panama law firm ‘Mossack Fonseca’ ? highlighting how politicians, celebrities and other famous people use banks, law firms and offshore shell companies to hide their assets.

According to the documents available on the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists website, the prime minister’s children owned or had the right to authorise transactions for several companies. The data revealed the financial dealings of over 200 Pakistanis, including the late Benazir Bhutto, Rehman Malik and other prominent politicians and businessmen.

The PTI petition also pointed out a BBC report that confirmed purchases of properties in Park Lane and a book by Raymond Baker charging Nawaz Sharif with millions of dollars of corruption, whose allegations were never disputed by the prime minister or his family.