A judge of the Pakistan Supreme Court's Panama case implementation bench has warned that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's children may face consequences for submitting forged documents to the joint investigation team (JIT) probing the Panamagate case.
"The Government of Dubai has revealed that the documents of Gulf Steel Mills provided by the Sharif family were forged. Dubai Customs has no record of transportation of machinery of Gulf Steel Mills from Dubai to Saudi Arabia," The Express Tribune quoted Supreme Court Judge Ijazul Ahsen as saying on Thursday.
This was the fourth consecutive hearing of the Supreme Court's three-member Panama case implementation bench, three-member bench, headed by Justice Ejaz Afzal Khan, following the submission of the Joint Investigation Team's (JIT) final probe report into the Sharif family's businesses.
Justice Ejaz during the hearing said that there is a seven-year imprisonment term for those who submit false documents in court.
The counsel for Sharif's children, Salman Akram Raja submitted a 17-page petition listing objections on the JIT report before the court and pleaded for dismissal of the report and its evidence.
Justice Ejaz also observed that it was Hussain Nawaz's responsibility to produce the Qatari prince before the JIT as the sheikh was his star witness.
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The bench had earlier this week heard arguments of the petitioners over the JIT report and today heard the replies from the respondents.
The bench also expressed their displeasure over the media trial being conducted outside the apex court.
Presenting to the documents detailing cargo shipments from UAE to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, Raja said his client, Hussain, was not asked questions about the UAE Justice Ministry's letter during his JIT sessions.
Justice Ejaz replied saying the complete documents should have been given to the JIT as now these documents effect on the case will have to be seen by the judges.
Raja responded saying that the JIT declared all the documents presented to them as bogus.
Justice Amzat asked Raja to not dismiss the JIT's report but instead prove them wrong with supporting documents.
The bench observed that the 'public officer holder' will be asked about the money trail of the London properties that exists in the case if Sharif's children are unable to reveal it.
Raja presented the bench with the documents related to Qatari Prince Sheikh Hammad bin Jassim and the British Virgin Islands and argued that the JIT had not conducted further investigation after receiving the UAE letter.
Geo News quoted Justice Ejaz as saying that if there's no evidence that a wrongdoing was committed then there is also no proof that the right thing was done.
The hearing was later adjourned till Friday.