(PTI)
Embattled Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif will become Pakistan’s first sitting premier to depose before a Joint Investigation Team probing the high-profile Panamagate graft case when he appears before it on Thursday.
The unprecedented development will make Sharif the first incumbent to appear before such a panel, let alone one probing allegations of financial irregularities or fraud against nearly his entire family, going back three generations, Dawn newspaper reported.
Joint Investigation Team (JIT) chief Wajid Zia, in a letter dated Saturday, asked the prime minister to appear before the six-member probe team at 11:00 AM (11:30 IST) on June 15 with all documents relevant to the case.
The summon was issued to Sharif, 67, after he returned from his Kazakhstan visit where he attended the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit. The JIT s summons also reminded Sharif to “kindly bring along relevant record/documents/material” related to the Panama Papers case. This will entail nearly all the documents and evidence submitted before the Supreme Court by the Prime Minister’s counsel, Makhdoom Ali Khan.
The report also said that Finance Minister Ishaq Dar may also be questioned by the team before Sharif’s appearance.In its judgement of April 20 in the Panama Papers case, the Supreme Court had constituted a JIT and empowered it to summon the prime minister, his sons and any other person necessary, to investigate allegations of money-laundering, through which the four apartments in London’s posh Park Lane area were purchased.
