Sharif's daughter Maryam cleared by Pak SC in Panama case

Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's media savvy daughter Maryam Sharif's name has been virtually cleared by the Supreme Court in the high-profile Panama case, according to a media report. The Panama Papers leaks alleged that 43-year-old Maryam was the beneficial owner of the London properties owned jointly by her brothers. The petitions claimed that since Maryam was a dependant of Sharif, she should have declared the Mayfair properties in her wealth statement. The verdict, however, was of the view that Maryam "has received cash gifts from her father in substantial amounts on various occasions receipt of gifts from the father does not necessarily make Respondent No 6 (Maryam Nawaz) his (Nawaz Sharif) dependent in the legal sense of the word", Dawn reported. The bench said in the verdict that "we also notice that she owns substantial agricultural property, receives income from the same, holds shares in limited companies worth more than Rs 200 million and her husband also receives a fair amount of money by way of pension as a retired military officer".