 "Panama papers: Sharif says his family is innocent, conspiracy will fall")
Embattled Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Thursday said he and his family have done nothing wrong as he lashed out at "some unseen elements" for hatching conspiracies against his democratically-elected government.
"Today, I have just presented my stance before the JIT," Sharif told reporters after appearing before the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) probing his family's alleged corruption as was reported by the Panama Papers leaks.
The 67-year-old PML-N leader, who became Pakistan's first sitting premier to depose before such a panel, said that these allegations have nothing to do with his tenure as the prime minister and are not charges of corruption.
"It should be noted that these allegations have nothing to do with my tenure as the prime minister and are not charges of corruption. They are charges against me and my family on a personal level about the family business," Sharif said after nearly three hours of questioning by the six-member team.
He said as former chief minister and now third time prime minister, he approved projects worth trillion of rupees but "my opponents could not accuse me of any wrongdoing."
Sharif said he and his family have repeatedly been subjected to merciless accountability but no allegation of corruption had ever been proved.
"My opponents have levied charges of corruption against me, however, neither in the past, nor in the present, have any charges of corruption been proved against me and my family."
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He expressed the confidence that the outcome of the ongoing inquiry would not be different as he and his family have done nothing wrong.
He also accused that "some unseen elements were hatching conspiracies against him and the democracy which would damage" the country.
"All conspiracies of our political opponents will fail," he said.
The JIT chief Wajid Zia had summoned the prime minister to appear before the probe team on June 15 with all documents relevant to the case.
The summons was issued to Sharif, 67, after he returned last Saturday from Kazakhstan where he had attended the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit.