Maryam Nawaz beneficiary of London flats: Imran

PTI submits fresh documentary evidence against Sharif family in Panamagate case

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Imran Khan on Tuesday said Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's daughter Maryam Nawaz is the beneficiary of luxury flats in a posh London neighbourhood.

The PTI leader submitted fresh documentary evidence in the Supreme Court (SC) against the premier's family over its alleged involvement in the Panamagate scandal.

According to the documents submitted in the apex court by PTI’s lawyer Naeem Bukhari, the prime minister’s daughter is the beneficiary of the luxury flats in London.



Addressing the media after submitting the documents, PTI chairman Imran Khan said he will prove five points through the papers. "Maryam was beneficiary and the real owner of Nelson and Nescon," the PTI chief said.

"There was no trust which Hussain established and of which Maryam was trustee. In fact she was the real owner," he added. Imran further alleged that the letter from a Qatari prince claiming the London flats were purchased through the settlement of accounts between his family’s company and the Sharif family was a "fraud."

The PTI chief also questioned where Maryam Nawaz got money from to purchase the London flats when she is her father's beneficiary. "PM Nawaz lied in Supreme Court. The only thing that isn't fake is Ishaq Dar's document which he submitted before the parliament," he alleged.

"Nawaz Sharif has lied both on the assembly floor as well as in court. They don't have any money trail to prove themselves," Imran added.

Earlier, the Sharif family submitted a letter from a Qatari prince claiming the flats were purchased through the settlement of accounts between his family’s company and the Sharif family.

According to Sharif family, on February 2, 2006, the premier’s daughter had signed a declaration with her brother Hussain Nawaz as a trustee in his two companies Nescol and Nielsen. Further, Maryam, in her reply before the SC, had also claimed that she was only a trustee and not a shareholder or beneficiary of the properties.

'Case may be decided in two weeks'

Meanwhile, addressing a press conference in Islamabad, Imran Khan said the documents provided were a genuine evidence of PTI’s stance [regarding premier’s alleged offshore wealth]. “The Supreme Court now has a trail of documents to investigate the matter,” he said adding, "this matter may now be decided in about two weeks."

If the premier, the PTI chairman said, doesn’t accept the documents exposing the scam, he should take the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) to court. "The documents are public, available and undisputed."

Imran went on to say that the documents were provided to them by overseas Pakistanis - 90 per cent of whom he claimed support his party.

PM, children change lawyers

Meanwhile, PM Nawaz and his children have once again replaced lawyers in the Panamagate scandal. Makhdoom Ali Khan will now represent the prime minister while Salman Akram Raja and Shahid Hamid will appear on behalf of Hussain Nawaz and Maryam Nawaz respectively, sources told The Express Tribune.



Earlier, Salman Aslam Butt was appearing on behalf of the prime minister while Akram Sheikh was representing the premier’s children.

The Panama Papers are huge collections of classified documents leaked by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) in April, 2016. The Papers revealed names of over 200 Pakistanis, including PM Nawaz’s children, who owned offshore companies in international tax havens.







PTI should speak inside the court, not outside: PML-N leaders

Later in the day while refuting the PTI stance, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Muhammad Zubair said that PM Nawaz was never accused in the Panama Paper leaks and this fact is also endorsed by the PTI itself while addressing the media in Islamabad.

“We believe that the prime minister should not be dragged into all this since his name was never mentioned anywhere,” Zubair said about the Panamagate scandal.

He went on to say that the PTI chairman should talk in the court where he usually sits quietly instead of addressing pressers outside the courtroom.

Another PML-N leader Daniyal Aziz remarked that the documents presented in the court today by the PTI were old and already discussed about. “These documents are PTI’s new 35 punctures and there is not a single new document in it.”

He alleged that the PTI leaders who were addressing the media today were themselves owners of off-shore companies.