SC grills PTI lawyer over failure to prove allegations against Sharifs

Justice Azmat says PTI counsel did not submit any paper to establish Sharif family owned London properties in 1993

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Monday grilled Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf counsel over failure to establish allegations regarding the Sharif family's purchase of London flats.

As the final round of the legal battle between the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz and the PTI begins, the top court questioned the party's lead counsel over proof that the Sharif family owned luxury flats in London in 1993.



Despite having significant documents, Naeem Bokhari has seemingly struggled to substantiate the PTI’s case with verbal arguments.

"You did not submit any scrap of paper to establish that Sharif family owned London properties in 1993," Justice Azmat Saeed Sheikh said in his remarks.

The apex court also raised questions over the National Accountability Bureau's failure to file an appeal regarding the re-investigation of Rs612 million Hudaibia Papers Mill scam against the Sharif family.

A three-judge bench headed by Justice Asif Saeed Khosa discussed the quashing of NAB's reference against Sharif family by the Lahore High Court. "NAB failed to file an appeal against the high court's 2011 verdict," the bench observed.

In March 11, 2014, the Lahore High Court rejected NAB’s plea of opening corruption references against the Sharifs in the Hudaibiya Paper Mills case. Nine members of the Sharif family, including Nawaz Sharif, Shahbaz Sharif, have been accused of laundering up to Rs642.7 million.



However, Justice Khosa observed that when NAB did not move an appeal against the LHC order in former chairman OGRA Tauqir Sadiq's case, the Supreme Court while exercising Article 184 (3) of the Constitution accepted that appeal. Justice Khosa also raised queries regarding the failure of authorities to conduct an investigation on Finance Minister Ishaq Dar's confessional statement.