The Supreme Court on Monday rejected a petition filed by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's son, Hussain Nawaz, against two members of the joint investigation team tasked to probe the Sharif family's offshore assets.
In its April 20 judgment, the top court had declared that PM Nawaz and his family failed to justify how they accumulated their offshore assets. Hence, the five-judge apex court bench ordered the formation of a JIT to settle the saga that started with the Mossack Fonseka leaks just over a year ago.
Formed on May 5, officials included in the JIT are: Brigadier Nauman Saeed from the Inter-Services Intelligence, Brigadier Kamran Khurshid from the Military Intelligence, Aamer Aziz from the State Bank of Pakistan, Bilal Rasool from the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan, Irfan Naeem Mangi from the National Accountability Bureau and Wajid Zia from the Federal Investigation Agency.
Rejecting Hussain's plea, the top court asked why the Sharif family questioned the presence of two members in the JIT who have expertise in investigating white-collar crimes. The three-judge bench headed by Justice Ejaz Afzal Khan, however, asked the JIT to give due respect to all the persons being summoned by them for investigation.
Justice Afzal remarked that if these people could not probe the case, then 'angels' would come to investigate it. "We will not remove, eliminate or change of any member of the JIT. But, we [will] direct them to act independently and fairly," he said. Justice Azmat Saeed said members of the Sharif family members were being called for interrogation, "not for a tea party." Hussain Nawaz testifies before JIT. Meanwhile, the bench issued a last warning to the incumbent president National Bank of Pakistan.