Panamagate hearing: PTI set to submit ‘damning evidence’

Documentary evidence will prove charges against Sharif family: Imran

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf will submit “more incriminating evidence” against the ruling Sharif family to substantiate its case in the Supreme Court, Imran Khan insisted on Saturday.

“We will provide more documentary evidence in the Supreme Court to prove our stance against the Sharif family in Panamagate (scandal),” the PTI chairman told a delegation of Press Association of Supreme Court at his Bani Gala residence.



Insiders in the party told The Express Tribune the ‘new evidence’ had been brought from London.

Imran said he wanted to plead the case in the top court himself, but some of his associates believed that it would be better to engage professional lawyers.

A section of the party still believes the PTI chief should argue the case himself, using his political stature, according to a PTI leader.

Imran said his party had brought the matter before the apex court and the court should seek the relevant information from the departments concerned. “It is not the PTI which is on trial, but the whole justice system,” he remarked.

The PTI chief claimed his party had already won on the political front, as everyone was questioning the authenticity of the money trail provided by the PML-N, including the letter of the Qatari prince.

He said that if his party lost the legal battle, he would launch a public mobilisation campaign and prepare for the next general elections.



The PTI leader also referred to a TV talk-show, in which the PM’s daughter, Maryam Nawaz, had claimed in 2012 that her family owned no properties abroad. “We are fighting against the incumbent government … all institutions are busy protecting the prime minister and his family instead of doing their jobs,” he said.

“We have already declared our assets, but (even then) the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan and the National Accountability Bureau are attacking me and Jehangir Tareen,” he said. “The government is destroying these institutions.”

Referring to a petition filed by PML-N leader Hanif Abbasi against him and Jehangir Tareen, Imran said the government was trying to blackmail opposition parties. “No FIR had been lodged against any political opponent in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa but the Punjab government has registered a couple of cases against me,” he added.

The PTI chairman said the FBR would lose its credibility if it confined itself to clearing the names of Nawaz Sharif and his family in Panama Leaks. He added the world over it was a settled principle that opposition parties staged protests if government institutions failed to perform adequately.



According to Imran, it was not the PTI’s job to produce incriminating evidence against the ruling family. “The Sharifs should prove their innocence,” he said.

The PTI leader defended arguments presented by his party’s previous counsel, Hamid Khan, saying the Qatari prince’s letter had come as a big surprise to the nation. He added corruption was the main challenge confronting the country, and it needed to be tackled by instituting merit.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 27^th, 2016.