ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Wednesday asked Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) to elaborate about the businesses owned by the Sharif family, saying the court cannot review political statement, nor can it announce a verdict on the basis of news reports.
A five-member larger bench headed by Chief Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali resumed the hearing of Panama leaks case on Wednesday. The bench asked PTI counsel to elaborate as to wherefrom the capital for Jeddah steel mill came and how was the money transferred to London.
The judges told the PTI attorney if Sharif family’s link with offshore companies prior to 2006 is established then the entire burden would be shifted on them (Sharifs).
“We cannot review political statements and if a verdict was announced on the basis of news reports then your client may also have to face difficulty,” the judges said.
The Supreme Court in its remarks said that the Sharif family had not presented documents for companies it had mentioned. In fact, documents had been hidden from the court, the apex court said.
“Why were the documents hidden?” the court asked Akram Sheikh, the lawyer for Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s children.
If you say that you are a shareholder, you will have to give evidence, Justice Azmat Saeed remarked.
The new legal team of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) presented the case before the bench, after the party’s appointed lawyer and senior party leader, Hamid Khan, recused himself from representing the party in the Panama leaks case taken up by the Supreme Court.
The hearing has been adjourned till December 6.
