Prima facie case against Sharif family is of forgery: SC

ISLAMABAD: The documents submitted by the Sharif family in defence of their ownership of London flats have landed them into trouble as the court on Thursday observed that prima facie case before them was of forgery.

Justice Azmat Saeed remarked, “The documents provided by the respondents are found to be fake and case before us right now is of forgery but we shall not go beyond this.”

The counsel of Prime Minister's children, Salman Akram Raja on Thursday presented more proofs regarding the ownership of London flats.

When the hearing resumed, Hussain Nawaz's lawyer presented new documents showing his client owned the Avenfield flats before the three-member bench headed by Justice Ejaz Afzal Khan.

The bench inquired that how come the “Trust Deed” between Maryam Nawaz and Hussain Nawaz was signed on 4th February 2006 (Saturday), which is not possible being holiday in UK.

“No one even receive a call on holiday, how it is possible,” Justice Azmat asked, on this Raja replied that might be a mistake.

Justice Ejaz Afzal remarked that allegation against Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was that he purchased flats because his kids were young, however, “if you are able to prove the source of funds your clients and the public office holder will be in safe zone.”

Before the proceedings began, the bench expressed anger over counsel's media talk outside the court. The new docs were leaked to media last evening and debated extensively on the news channels.

Raja denied sharing anything with anyone.

He also submitted objections on the JIT report on behalf of PM’s children. He contended that the report based upon unauthorized documents hence cannot be relied upon.

Qatari Letter:

The Panama case took a new twist on Wednesday when a new letter from the Qatari Prince Sheikh Hamad bin Jassam came up on the official letter pad of Qatar’s Ministry of Law and Justice in which he stated that he was ready to meet the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) in Doha.

Earlier, two letters written to the JIT were on the personal letter pad of Shaikh Hamad bin Jassam but this letter was on the official letter pad of Qatar’s Ministry of Law and Justice that clearly shows that the Qatar government owns it and now the game has changed as the importance of the letter could not be ignored.

In his letter, he has written that in the previous communication, he was not given an assurance that laws of Pakistan would not be implemented on him and he would not become part of any judicial proceedings or investigation. “If it is accepted, I am ready for meeting next week in Doha to confirm my previous letters,” he stated in his recent communication.

BVI documents vs private firm’s letters

As Hussain Nawaz presents the documents of a private firm in a last-ditch effort to establish that he is the beneficial owner of Nielsen and Nescoll, not Maryam Nawaz, it remains to be seen whether the SC will consider the British Virgin Islands (BVI) record authentic or that of a private firm.

On the one side, there are BVI documents that have been in existence well before the Panama Papers made headlines. An effort is being made to negate them through the letters of private firms in the middle of the court battle. Whether information that the firm passed on to BVI was accurate or the one reflected in the letters to be submitted before the SC.

While BVI had already confirmed that the information submitted to its Financial Investigation Agency in 2012 declared that Maryam was the beneficial owner of the offshore companies, Nielsen and Nescoll, the Sharif family is now trying to dispute that through the letters of its service providers.

The BVI record about the companies under question is based on the information it obtained through Mossack Fonseca, the Panama-based law firm which was representing the family in the BVI. Any query from the BVI regarding the companies is dealt through this firm. Minerva Services is a service provider company that was a link between the family and the law firm.

Out of the three ‘new’ documents released to the media on Wednesday night, one had already been submitted before the court when even the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) was not formed for a thorough probe. This was written by the Minerva Services on the request of the Sharif family in which Umesh Sahal, the service provider, had confirmed to Hussain that “to the best of my recollection” a meeting took place at Hassan’s residence in which Minerva took over the management of Nielsen and Nescoll.

'Sharif family fulfils onus of proof responsibility'

While the four major successes termed as ‘critical evidence’ by the Panama Joint Investigation Team (JIT) have already been proved wrong or have failed to prove anything wrong, the JIT report couldn’t come up with even a single conclusive evidence to hold Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif or any other respondent responsible for any crime or even any wrongdoing as per law.

Only the honourable judges of the Panama Implementation Bench can decide the merits and demerits of the proofs and documents furnished by the JIT. As the report has been made public, its findings are being analysed regarding their correctness and relevance to the allegations.