Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: The legal team of Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) has started collecting materials and evidences regarding alleged corruption by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his family to present those before the judicial commission on Panama leaks, whose formation is yet to be decided by the chief justice of Pakistan.

The PPP’s legal team, comprising four top lawyers and party leaders Aitzaz Ahsan, Latif Khosa, Farooq Naek and Nayyar Bukhari, has started paper work while Nayyar Bukhari is set to move an application in the National Assembly and the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to seek complete details of assets of PM Nawaz Sharif and his family.

Nayyar Bukhari said that it was not an easy task “but we have started working on it and we will hold a special meeting in the current week to consider this issue”, adding that party’s legal team will suggest legal forums to the party leadership to be approached against the Sharif family.

Sardar Latif Khosa, another member of PPP’s legal team, while talking to media at Supreme Court’s premises said that the legal team is utilizing all resources to gather the evidences against mega corruption cases of the prime minister and his family. “The corruption by Sharifs revealed by Panama Papers comes under money laundering and smuggling which are criminal offences,” he said.

Khosa said that the legal team is examining the Hudabiya Paper Mills (Pvt) Ltd case, in which nine members of the Sharif family including Nawaz Sharif, Shahbaz Sharif, Mian Abbas Sharif, Hussain Nawaz, Hamza Shahbaz, Maryam Safdar and Finance Minister Ishaq Dar are accused of money laundering to the tune of Rs 642.743 million.

He said that the 45-paged confessional statement by Ishaq Dar recorded before the Lahore district magistrate on April 25, 2000 is also being examined. He said they were also contacting cyber and financial experts to seek their assistance in collecting the material through which money laundering could be proved.

Likewise, a team of auditors will be consulted as to how the taxes were evaded through offshore companies by prime minister’s family, he said, adding that they will also approach Federal Board of Revenue to seek the details of taxed paid by Nawaz Sharif and his family.

Khosa said that legal team was also working on written-off loans of the Sharif family. He rejected the terms of references (ToRs) of the proposed inquiry commission to investigate Panama leaks. He said that if commission is constituted, it must probe these matters through forensic audit.