News
November 14 , 2016
Panama Leaks case: Sharif family decides to replace lawyer
ISLAMABAD: Children of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif have decided to replace their lawyer and ex-Attorney General Salman Aslam Butt with Akram Sheikh.
According to details, the PM's children submitted a request at the Supreme Court in which it was stated that the services of Akram Sheikh would now be required in the Panama Leaks case.
On the other hand, PTI also submitted its documents pertaining to the Sharif family assets and tax returns at the court today. The documents submitted by PTI in court today consisted of 686 pages. The documents contained details of the bank accounts of Sharif family as well as evidence of their loans being written off.
According to the documents submitted by the PTI, the factories owned by the Sharif family increased during his era as Chief Minister of Punjab. The documents also alleged that Sharif family had bank loans amounting to more than Rs 6 billion. The documents also stated that PM Nawaz's business partner Khalid Siraj exposed the premier's money laundering.
It was claimed in the documents that from 1988 to 1991, Rs 5,60,00,000 were transferred abroad through hundi. It was further claimed that PM Nawaz did not mention the wealth he had transferred abroad in his tax returns and had only paid a tax of Rs 897 during this time period.
During the last hearing, it was contended that the prime minister was not the owner of (legal or beneficial) any of the offshore entities subject matter of Panama Papers and his name did not appear in the Panama Papers nor have any accusations been made against him in the said papers.
The Sharif family's legal counsel had also stated that the children of prime minister were neither his dependents nor any of them has been declared as his dependent in tax returns as well as the wealth statement filed in accordance with the provisions of the applicable laws with the nomination Election Commission in accordance with the provisions of the applicable law.
Various political parties, including the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, Jamaat-e-Islami, Awami Muslim League and Jamhoori Watan Party, and an individual Tariq Asad had moved the apex court against PM Nawaz Sharif and his family over various charges, including money-laundering, setting up of offshore companies illegally and non-declaration of their assets, etc.
Courtesy www.thenews.com.pk