Investigators Quiz Premier About Property Assets Revealed In Panama Papers

Published: 15 June 2017

Nawaz Sharif Pakistan

Nawaz Sharif (Photo: Prerna Goyal, CC BY-SA 4.0)

By Haroon Janjua

ISLAMABAD – Pakistan Premier Nawaz Sharif on Thursday made his first appearance before the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) probing his family’s offshore properties in connection with an April 20 Supreme Court decision related to the Panama papers leak.

It was the first time in Pakistani history that an authoritative investigation agency grilled a premier.

Addressing the media outside the Federal Judicial Academy after three hours with investigators, Sharif said he had accounted for every penny of family money.

He maintained that all the sources about his assets and properties have already been submitted to relevant authorities. "Today is a historic day for Pakistan’s judiciary," he said. "My whole family and I have presented ourselves for accountability."

"My personal businesses have nothing to do with federal treasury. And no matter how many conspiracies my rivals are hatching, they will not be successful," he said.

Warning political opponents, Sharif referred to the 2018 general election and said, "People should not forget that there will also be a larger JIT next year comprising 200 million people, and they will decide who has worked for the betterment of the country."

"We will not let our opponents turn back the wheel of progress, and the nation will support us even more than it did in 2013," he said. 

By Haroon Janjua, reporting from Islamabad, Pakistan